Text in this piece is from Pirkei Avot 5:21 and is translated to “Ben Hei Hei says: According to the grief is the reward” (though it has been translated in slightly other ways as well). This was commissioned by someone who found this text so comforting during a time of pain, grief and loss; even in the midst of this suffering, it’s possible to look forward and say that the reward and the joy will be just as deep, in the future, as this grief is at this moment.

This is one of the largest pieces I’ve created; framed, it measures 3′ by 4′. (Which is why the paper looks so much flatter than in my other pieces.)

For the Hebrew letters, I was inspired by the organic and emotional letters in Larry Kushner’s “The Book of Letters” and for the English letters I was inspired by a font called “Nowwhat.”