I am a curious woman. I always start by observing - my surroundings, myself, inside and out through numerous mirrors. I’m interested in the challenge of using materials to describe my ponderings. To find the simple essence, ‘the story’s’ extract, it’s abstraction. How can the energy of an occurrence be carried in its remnants?

   I am a gatherer, constantly aware of impermanence. I stroll through both the open natural landscape and city squares, with the same wide open eyes. I'm an archivist of leftovers, scraps & fleeting moments. I catalogue the places & experiences that produced them, their stories, and how I felt while collecting them. I compile, sort, choose, yet my decisions aren’t always consciously clear …

   In my work I praise the everyday. What my hands touch is woven into my journey, receiving my devoted care; sometimes from the rough hands of a handyman, and sometimes from delicate hands, skilled in ancient crafts.

  I look for the balance between clarity and mystery; between the clear presence glistening in the light, and the possibilities revealed only while gazing into the shadows. I find the balance, lose it and look for it again; lingering ‘with intent’ in every step of the process. The brightest light shines next to the deepest shadow. 

   I draw the shadows as another way of recording the existence of these ephemeral materials. The shades of gray are only a delicate trace of their details, textures and colors. I examine the tension between maximalism of details, and abstract minimalism. A colorful blossoming tree - buzzing with bees and life, becomes a memory represented as a pile of empty seed pods.

   I weave a sustainable reality, recharged by the power of the sun. 

   I use what is considered unusable, finding life in what has already dried out.

   I generate dance moves on land that is sown with seeds of intention.

   While creating a poetic archive of remembrance- I keep a finely focused state of mind in a space where everything is temporary and part of a nonhierarchical, transitional journey, where every moment is valuable both in itself and in leading to the next.

Joanna Jones, , lives and works in Tel Aviv Jaffa, Israel.