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Shiviti, is the first word in verse 8 of Psalm 16: "I have set God before me always". A shiviti, which is also called a mizrach, is a contemplative art work traditionally placed on the eastern wall — facing Jerusalem — of a room or synagogue as a physical reminder of God's presence. Many people have a practice of sitting in front of the shiviti, meditating on the letters to strengthen their awareness of being in the presence of God.
This shiviti is like the traditional carved or paper-cut plaques, except for the color, which was for me its raison d'etre. The idea seems simple, though the color experience builds up from one part of the painting to the next. As a painter, I imagine such an approach to color to be analogous to ideas in Kabbalah in which G-d is imagined as multifaceted, and prayer experienced as a journey through the parts towards unity. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel taught that we can also look on every person as a shiviti, reminding us of God's constant presence.
We hope it will serve — open on your computer screen — as a personal contemplative space available to you in the midst of your work whenever you would like to stop to sit, breathe and open your mind and heart.
— Jill Nathanson, Artist's Statement