In this contemporary relief piece, “Miriana the wooden golem” I explore life on both sides of the veil. Fresh out of a life threatening surgery on my neck, I poured my heart and soul into this work. After hundreds of hours I was finally able to open her eyes and set her Shem (name).

Translating such highly personal concepts like gender, when one is born intersex, into high relief carvings requires more than just deep spatial layers and anatomical design. It requires honest introspection. Every chisel stroke must be a deliberate choice to catch the light, and give a sense of movement, life to the material. Here I was struggling with a threat to my life, tremors in my hands, inability to control my tools, an complete lack of friends, socialization. My solitude had become isolation. And so, in desperation, I called her from the pine. When first she stirred Amet graced her forehead, and the circumambulations were completed. She has lived with me since that time. Watching over me silently, breathing in the change of the seasons. Guarding me from her place upon the wall.

This plank, once a a pine, was cut down, forced violently into rigid dimensions, used, and cast aside. I have given her new life, purpose, breath. The same she has granted me.