I Am Yosef

The story of Yosef is a moving, complicated one that I’ve been drawn to since elementary school. A story that moved my grandfather to tears each time he read it. This rendition of his famous technicolor coat is a symbol of Yosef as a persona and as a human being, and a metaphor for emerging from struggle.

This artwork depicts Yosef’s journey from favored to envied to forgotten to successful. At the core is his father’s simultaneous grief and a glimmer of hope in his refusal to be consoled — va’yima’en lehinachem — before knowing his fate for certain.

Towards the end, Yosef takes control of the narrative, rising like a pheonix from the ashes, alive and strong, reunited with his family at last.

Black pen, watercolor markers, and paint markers on paper. Verses from the story of Yosef in Bereshit. Below: The initial sketch side by side with the final piece printed on an acrylic block.