Alef 25, by Shirah Rachel Apple
Shirah Rachel Apple uses recycled materials to create intimate, interactive artworks from wood, parchment, thread, yarn, food and other materials. Her work has been shown in Israel and the U.S. and is in the collection of the Embassy of Israel. She currently makes art and creates visual midrash with students in Baltimore, Maryland.
"The alef blocks are part of a larger project in which I am repeating the letter Alef one thousand times in varous media (Elef in Hebrew, spelled the same as Alef, means one thousand). The beautiful form of the letter, which simultaneously reaches to heaven and touches the earch, is a beautiful form to meditate on, and the repetition of the letter is also meditative. This first letter has no sound but is the breath taken before the word is said...and being the first, it stands for the number one and simultaneously for infinity in its association with one thousand. For me personally it indicates the beginning and infinite possibilities simultaneously."
