קדושים |K’doshim

Barbara Mendes, USA

As I see it, Judaism primarily focuses on the interface between the Divine and the human male, all but excluding the relationship between the Divine and the female. Since Parashat K’doshim teaches, “Be Holy because Holy am I, haShem, your God,” I have filled the page with an iconic female figure symbolizing the Shechinah, the Divine feminine presence of God, wearing the cosmos as a shawl. Her dress contains a landscape embedded with scenes of generosity and kindness. The color-saturated mandala surrounding all the images symbolizes the invisible and unspeakable mystic power of One (non-corporeal and certainly not masculine) God.

Professional Background  Barbara Mendes is a painter, comic artist, and muralist. For many years, she published her work in Underground Comix under the name Willy Mendes. Her brilliantly colored narrative paintings, epic in detail and scale, have been exhibited and are on permanent display in the United States and Israel.