Sally from Toronto came to us with a fierce and thoughtful vision. Her tattoo began as a response to a small but telling moment, a school board deciding to remove the Star of David from a calendar, calling it too political. What followed was a flood of reflection about her identity, her family history, and the cost of silence.

Her mother was born in Israel to Iraqi Jewish parents who lost everything when they were forced to flee Baghdad. Her grandmother, Salima, lived in a one-bedroom apartment near the old Tel Aviv train station and passed away at one hundred. Sally was named in her honor. Israel was never an abstract idea for her. It was where she spent summers with cousins, where she felt most at home. After October 7, something shifted for her, and she no longer wanted to stay quiet or ambiguous about who she was. The idea of hiding felt unbearable.

For the text we landed on the Hebrew phrase מִמִּזְרַח שֶׁמֶשׁ, from the east comes the sun. Gabriel imagined the letters forming an abstract Star of David that only reveals itself when viewed from a distance. The design is in textured shades of blue where clarity only emerges when you step back.

This piece is about visibility. It is a light that rises from the east and refuses to dim.