Yakira, (Kira to her friends), was born in Jerusalem in 1953. She moved to the United States in 1971 and holds degrees in Graphic Arts, Interior Design and International Relations.
Kira's art and writing are an illustration of one woman's struggle to come to terms with the isolation of suburban life. Her paintings pierce the picture postcard veil of her surroundings to reveal an ominous loneliness: a yearning that stems from relationships severed before their time, experiences not blossomed, from a life not fulfilled. The subtle intensity of Kira's compositions and the bold sweep of her colors draw the viewer into the paintings to penetrate beyond the silent voices of her images and move us to ponder man's existence.
Kira attributes the intensity of her work and convictions to the rich influences of her childhood. Her family originated in Kurdistan and her father later became a distinguished Israeli political leader. It was his relentless pursuit of a just society that helped Kira form her passionate views.
Kira has dedicated the past eighteen years to the raising her two children and contributing in community service. She weaves a rich tapestry of background to create thought provoking images.
Premonition
One day, -- about three years have passed,
I painted a woman in her kitchen.
She sat, looking way out West,
with a look of premonition.
Her gaze was long and full of worry,
as if suddenly she had learnt,
something is about to be--
that her heart would slowly burn.
Beside her lay an open book,
on the kitchen table,
on checkered cloth of red and white,
she leaned herself to stable.
My husband asked me: "Why is that
you always paint such sorrow?"
I looked him straight into the eye--
his slits were dark and narrow.
---------------- A year had passed and there I sat,
in my kitchen on the floor,
in my lap my girl sobbed--
her father left and closed the door.
____
copyright © February 19, 1999 Kira All Rights Reserved
There Are Those Times
There are those times my heart does
hurts
in pain so deep and wide,
I lay in bed and cry out loud:
"This wave -- oh, please-- brave
up and ride!"
A hollow cuts across the dark --
a passage broad with shadows,
I close my eyes and hear a wail:
the thrust of pain that bellows.
A pang so sharp it cuts across
and deepened as it moves,
the soreness gushes all at once --
with ache that can't be soothed.
In those far moments alone in bed,
the light is dim and soft;
I reach a place not on this map --
the road to it is loft.
-----------
There are those times I think of heaven
and then my heart just raves:
I see myself above the sun
at last my soul been saved.
________
copyright ©June 8, 1998 Kira
All Rights reserved.
Mid-Day
Into her room he walked to find
a silence in the air,
above her bed she hung a dress
and twisted it with flair.
The shutters hung in lazy folds,
to shield the room from heat --
from noon-sun blazing at mid-day,
to make a cool retreat.
He wished her sanctuary to become
an altar to his passion,
as there he stood amongst the shadows
with growing fascination.
Suddenly, without provoke
her image flashed before his eyes
at once he felt a sudden rush,
to give the deepest of his sighs.
------------
When he was younger and hot-blooded
and freely swayed and moved by love,
he would become intoxicated,
with images of dames thereof.
In thoughts of passion and devotion,
he reeled and tossed in dizzy spins,
where time and space and other such,
where thrown away to all four winds.
In time he found that such emotions
were doomed to fail right from the start,
for on the whole, no dame of beauty,
cared to know his depth of heart.
As time went on and he discovered
that love eludes as it unfolds --
his bleeding heart he closed at once,
his young hot blood -- had turned cold.
------------
Then she came along,
with madness so divine,
to bring those dizzy bouts
of passions -- now refined.
His icy blood she thawed
to pulse in beating veins --
she guided him to her
to sooth their aching pain.
Into her womb he came
to feel his love returned,
it struck him dumb with awe --
and gratitude and yearn.
__________
copyright ©September 18, 1998 Kira All Rights Reserved