Ethan from Las Vegas wrote: “Since I was in high school I wanted to get Pillar of Fire in Hebrew on my inner forearm because I love the idea of following the light in the darkness and being that pillar for others. About 2 years ago a friend of mine passed away and I was watching a slideshow made for her by her aunt and one of the images shown was of her in a school play about Moses when she was a child and she was dressed as the Pillar of Cloud so I decided to get Pillar of cloud instead (עמוד ענן).”

David said: “Tell me more about your concept of following the light in the darkness? How do you experience being a pillar for others?”

Ethan replied: “When it comes to the light in the darkness, I like the idea of always having something to follow and look forward to. For the pillar part, I mean by being a pillar for others, like if a friend is in need I want to be there for them and be that pillar in their life that can support them. It goes with my friend that passed away, because I wish I was able to be there for them more and be that pillar that they could have leaned on.”

The image of a cloud pillar has fascinated me for a long time. It combines two contradicting elements: on one hand, it is nothing but a vapor, elusive, without mass. One could walk right through it. On the other, it bears an almost violent power. It’s a divine instrument, far from being feeble or powerless.

The same dichotomy exists in the idea of protection: you need a strong core, a clear idea of who you are, and at the same time, the sensibility to estimate a situation, small or large. Without a strong core, without a clearly defined identity, you will get lost in a complex, more dangerous situation. Without the sensibility, you will not know how to help. So again, we meet a seeming contradiction: the power to guide and to help comes with elements of fragility.

Rather than simply drawing a cloud pillar, I wanted to go abstract. Anything over the concrete would have inevitably resulted in blunt or dull art. Abstraction, as opposed to that, easily contains subtleties and multitudes.