I like this one...

...but I don't know why.

ehenocka

This is my old You Tube channel from high school. I've hidden most of the videos that embarrass me, but here's a little glimpse of where my head was at in 2007 and into 2009. I was learning as I put out these opinions. I still hold some of them. I was more cynical then than I am now, and I will continue to change.

ehenocka

On my profile it says,
"Emily was unsure with two eyes, Emily is unsure with one eye, but life feels more beautiful when she believes."

Another doodle...

Pedestrian

Birth

Hiatus Apology

So I haven't posted too much recently and my excuse is that I've been focusing on this animation I'm making for Adam Shapiro's upcoming documentary. The project is finally at it's tail end, so look forward to some new illustrations popping up. I suppose I coulda just posted some pictures from my sketchbook, but alas alack, I have not. So here's a little teaser:



I'll post the animation, or part of it sometime around the film's screening.

P.S. I'm still working on the print orders and things, and I've updated my pricing. I apologize as well for my tardiness. When I get my website up, it'll be much easier and quicker to get a print from me - like the orders will go directly to the printer and they will send it off to you. So sorry for the wait, and thanks.

Letter to an Unborn Movie

My film, my film! My beautiful baby film!
Intimate thoughts.

Line.
Wondrous feelings.

Color.
Truest story.

Time.
Echo my life:

Loose sight of levers.
See divided landscapes.
Reveal scars.

Looking for ultimate freedom.



Love my child.
My dearest hair-girl.

Tell them.

Color

I adore red hair, but I do not want her to have an explicit race. I want her green like the ripe leaf on my windowsill.

Paintlings

...psst! I'm making a website! - with animations!

Echo

Here she is again. She's changing. I've realized she isn't a child. Her life is so much like my own - as my life unfolds the images of this film come together. I've never had this happen before. This film, which will not be done anytime soon, is not practice like the Walkers piece. This is my baby. This is a story, this is a world that I'm visiting through drawing. Animation is magic.

I drew this on Friday when I was feeling this feeling.


My life is confusing and incredible. People keep sending me little things about the spring in An Nabi Salah and I am just astonished. I feel this responsibility to the Palestinian people; in my life, I will get to really know them and share their stories. That is truly my role as an artist. As I watch the world I create and imagine and the people I meet and my experience come together in a celebration. I am excited to see where things will go. What will I make when I am 50? What will I be doing? What will I think of this all? Will Palestine be free?

The Quiet

Hey guys, I know I disappeared for a moment which can feel like forever in internet land. Thanks to everyone who's helped me out, it helps me focus on my art. I will get back to you – I’m true to my word, just disorganized. I've been through something profound and I believe I'm working on important things.

I spent the last week almost completely locked up in my apartment, trudging through a field of things, little objects activating little memories. If it wasn’t a tool, art, or sentimental, it was trash. I feel like I moved in again. The colors are the same, but the walls hold good things. I turned my desk upside-down. I got rid of the internet because I use my computer for arting and it’s incredibly distracting. No more staying up late searching for whatever, if I’m bored I can’t check my e-mail. If I have to go on-line, I have to go to the library, hey here I am!

Perhaps it will strike me to make more Palestine pieces, but I’ve know for awhile I needed to make this one. For Nariman and her family and her village, this is An Nabi Salah before a demonstration.

Siege Busters Ball

September 21st
Let's get a US boat to Gaza.

http://www.littlefieldnyc.com/event-detail/?id=16345
I am not responsible for the fonts...

Walk

Some abstractness I drew while walking.... I think these (and by these I mean I drew a bunch of walking drawings) will be the background for something...



P.S. I am making some animations that just, feel like my real work. It's really flowing and coming together. I am pleased.

Road Haven

I drew it on a road-trip to Alabama...

Bus Nerves

Jordan

Floater

September - Doodle Days

I have a ton of sketches I need to go through and clean-up and such and internet birds to feed, so every day, or every-other day, or at the least every-other-other day, I'll present you with a sketch.

Claire

Taking my old musical love out of the case I have trapped it in for so many years, I found a new love for Jewish folk music. Of course my rusty clarinet fingers aren't even close to holding a klezmer melody, but with enough fiddling I'm sure I'll get... closer. Shock and awe, I am a Jew; why else would I be so often battling feelings of guilt and anxiety and adore stand-up comedy? Let that be a reminder; wishing for Israel to treat Palestinians with full rights and freedom doesn't mean I hate my cultural background. How'd you think this would sound; a klezmer-dabke fushion?

P.S. I've been working on animations and such, so that's a sorry for not posting so often... I'll get some photographs of some paintings I did this summer up and about soon!

Honesty

This mountainous moment in my life is fully documented. I am allowed the out-of-body experience of watching it happen from every angle. Apparently some new footage proves I was lying; apparently other footage shows me directly getting hit and a Ha’aretz reporter who claims I was targeted. I can’t watch either video. Sometimes, I can’t believe it happened. I’ve gotten used to the new face in the mirror. But I wonder what they claim I was lying about. Was I lying about spending a week in the hospital, barely able to move, my jaw wired shut, an indented fracture in my skull, not a word of apology from Israel, coming to terms with the compressed visual world I would now view through for the rest of my life?



I have become a minor symbol of solidarity and the occupation, and for this, people are interested in me. I never expected my first shot at recognition would be shrouded in scandal. Sitting underneath our basement staircase in my childhood studio, I dreamed of becoming a great artist. I want to go to this next place where I feel work and love flowing out of me. I want to create commercial art with soul. I want to become a “subjective journalist” - an illustrator traveling, experiencing, remembering, and communicating. But whatever I do, however am perceived, I am an artist. It is in the core of my being.

Animation Teaser

I'm looking for a musician/sound designer in New York City with a playful narrative sense to collaborate with me on my animations; I have one old old film that simply needs sound, and I'm working on a new exciting, albeit disorganized film and I'd like the sound to be truly integrated with the piece. I don't have any money; I'm asking for collaboration on a work I can really see going places.



Please send me an e-mail at thirstypixels@gmail.com with "sound" in the subject.

Thanks!

My name in Arab-esc:

Google thinks the words most associated with my name are, "facebook, blog, new york times, jewish, youtube, washington post, video, cnn, 21, eye." It clearly doesn't know me, but it does know something happened.

Stormy 2

or: Dad, 1789

Stormy 1

A beautiful storm cut off our power for two days. I really needed the vacation from the internet.



In the past month I've been feeling that feeling a lot of people get when they get back to the States - what am I supposed to do in/for America? I have maybe three more illustrations half finished from over there, but that's it, I'm not making any new memories from my trip. There's something so uncomplicated about Palestine - if you want to help, meet amazing people, and see the land, it's a no brainier.

I Miss You Palestine

The week I got home, I got my energy back, and I was giddy with the joy of being alive. I walked my dog and bellowed out this song in the woods. I'm no musician, but the soul of the moment carried my voice. When I came home I got out my computer and recorded this in a message for my good friend Nick… but what the heck, I want to give it to the world!



Also, if someone could remix this or re-sing this with piano, that would be brilliant.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is my "Of Gold," playlist because Yerushalaim Shel Zahav kept popping up in my head.

1) You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone - Flatt & Scruggs
2) Spain - The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group
3) Seeing Other People - Belle & Sebastian
4) The Rollercoaster Ride - Belle & Sebastian
5) Hearts and Bones - Paul Simon
6) Police and Thieves - The Clash
7) Box of Rain - The Grateful Dead
8) Fish to Fry - The Ditty Bops
9) Georgia on my Mind - Ray Charles
10) Born at the Right Time - Paul Simon*
11) Back on my Feet Again - Randy Newman
12) Don't Think Twice, It's Alright - Bob Dylan

* My magical hospital song.

And now for something completely different...

P.S. This is (a shitty photograph of) my current pair of glasses; designed by me this winter, doodled by me this month, and carved out of wood by the incredible Scott Urban.

T

Finding a job is hard, so I decided in the meantime to try to get this little diddle on a Threadless tee. Check it out, and if you like it, why not give it a nice score. It's a photoshopped-up version of a drawing I did during a community meeting at the Jiftlik where I felt kinda like these fellows; wishing to listen in, but sadly not able to understand Arabic (but I'm learning!).

Score My Design: "Listen In"

Square Times

A sketch from my film.

The Tent

My old plane ticket was set to bring me home today. I've spent so much of my life in this house, sometimes I forget it's only been a month since I arrived. Palestine can feel like a distant concept from my past, but this remains familiar:



And for the Sheikh Jarrah-ians, I miss you, and I'm sending you my love.

Apropriated Memory 2

I never saw this in Hebron.

Apropriated Memory 1

I was too distracted by the smell of tear gas to see this:



P.S. I just got all my drawings back from my travels and I am busy scanning... P.P.S. I was away for the good part of last week... P.P.P.S. Nothing like a whole lot of free time in the quiet suburbs to get the animation juices flowing! I have some finished work, but it needs sound and what not...

Graffiti

We were supposed to paint THE WALL that day. They weren't supposed to attack the flotilla. I at least got to draw this admittedly experimental piece:



Here was the design I had in mind: She won't let that big bad thing behind her contain her curiosity.

Ni'lin

I have a confession to make. I am an artist. I am by no means an expert on Middle Eastern politics - which isn't to say that I don't know a lot or have very strong opinions on the matter, but these illustrations I've made and am finishing are a reflection on my observations. I was attracted to this activism by the cause of fighting against injustice, but I pursued it for the people and the images they make in that awesome landscape. I have sketches upon sketches that are awaiting me in the mail from over there. I make them as I experience life - as I'm waiting for an action to start, taking to the Shabab in Sheikh Jarrah, sitting on a bus, lazing around the apartment listening to someone bring life to a guitar. My work exists within the society that surrounds me and the society inspires me to create. With my more overtly political work, I can only hope to show people the disturbing reality I've seen - to let them know that beyond all the jargon, there is a human issue that is both beautiful and horrible. Where we go from here, what you can take personally from this work, I can't know - art is an interpretive force. Perhaps emotion can lead to reason.

And now, the next in the series; Ni'lin. (I'd say it's worth it to see it big.)

Swings Again

Long overdue edits...

Cyclops

Having one eye is really just a design problem. There's even research that suggests that "Stereoblindness might prove an asset rather than a disadvantage to an artist." Sure, there's prosthesis that look so real no one would ever know you are different, but they could be so much more - an eye for every occasion; abstract, cartoony, solid colors, etc... I could even have it be the ultimate spy camera. Then of course there's eye patches. Black is classic and I do really love simple design, but there's a million different ways you could drape your face to cover that creepy spot. Hairstyles must also be considered. And when I'm feeling bold, there's always going natural. And what about one-eyed glasses?










P.S. My profile picture is me in a costume I made freshman year. I've had it since I made this blog and it's proven oddly predictive. The older I get, the more ridiculous life seems.

For the Jiftlik

Before my injury I was working on this piece after having visited a most wonderful village in the Jordan Valley. They literally are building the resistance and with mud, one of our Earth's most excellently fun substances. They live across from a settlement community which, completely illegally, cuts off their access to water and their right to expand. You might look at a fence made partially of a sign to Nablus, crates of various sorts, wires, tarps, and various car parts and see poverty, but I doubt my neighborhood in Maryland has half of their character.

So here you have it, the only proper thing to post now - what I had meant to before my bump. And yes, I really did see a plant shaped like that.

Me to then Me

And...

That Mood...

They Can't Imprison Your Mind

Obstruction

As per Ellen's suggestion, I bring to you:
Walaja Cake!

Ingredients; One layer of determined activist over a layer of obediently angry army men, and a layer of camera people (to give it that worldly flavor) with a bulldozer on-top!

Bulldoze

Swing Diptych

Memories from two weekends ago...



Walaja
As we leave a demonstration that would ultimately end in arrests and beatings, two men obliviously chit-chat on tire swings.

Sheikh Jarrah
Amongst the chaos of the military and settler's attempts to squander our ability to paint a mural, a little girl sadly sits on the swing set.

I Love You Silwan!

Counter Demonstration

My Apartment in Jerusalem

I got really hyper one weekend...