HOMELAND

by Deborah Sfez


In my mother’s womb I arrived
at my Homeland.
From the side wall
of her uterus, I heard the waves

crashing.
I, who was nothing
but a five months old fetus,
Floated in my private sea, enjoying

the waves’ movement
Inside and out,
While she
stood on the deck
And her belly, going
up and down

Underneath her lightweight dress.
When I came into being
I understood that I
Have arrived
At a foreign country
And that its language,
Was not
My mother-tongue.


* * * * *

Deborah Sfez is a multidisciplinary Israeli artist, born in 1964, working in Côte-D'Ivoire and Israel. She is a recognized Artist in Israel and internationally and has won several photography and art awards. Her work can also be found in the archives of several Museums. Her tools are photography, moving image, filmed performance accompanied by texts and music and sound composition. Her path, atypical, begins with studies of literature and languages and then by learning the trades of Fashion and Theater Costume.