You entice me with but one of your eyes

Abstract

You entice me with but one of your eyes Maya von Ziegesar (bio) You entice me with but one of your eyes is named for a verse from Song of Songs and modeled after the Ain Sakhri figurine, also known as the Ain Sakhri Lovers. The Ain Sakhri figurine is the first artistic portrayal of sex, between two embracing, genderless figures. The sculpture also depicts ambiguous sex organs depending on the angle from which it is viewed. It was carved eleven thousand years ago in what is now Palestine. It was discovered by a Bedouin, whose name was not recorded, and identified to be of immense historical importance by a French archeologist. In 1958 Sotheby’s sold the Lovers to the British Museum, where they remain to this day. The cave in which the Lovers were discovered sits in an Area C zone of the occupied West Bank, halfway between Ramallah and Tel Aviv. The Israeli state has a massive interest in excavating and exploring sites of biblical significance in order to emphasize Jewish history and their claim to the land. Archeological sites from before and after the biblical period serve no nation-building purpose and are therefore often overlooked. In 2012 Israel built a road above Ain Sakhri Cave and now pays a small fee to the occupied Palestinians for the right to dump trash into the valley below. You entice me with but one of your eyes is made of plaster gauze and string. Both are medical materials, evoking conflict, rupture, and repair. I made the piece after an extended educational trip to the West Bank and most particularly as a response to Avi Mograbi’s documentary Avenge But One of My Two Eyes. Mograbi uses this biblical verse (Judges 16:28) as a guiding lens to understand mutually destructive impulses in the Arab-Israeli conflict. I try to reimagine the liminal space of occupied Palestine through a verse from Song of Songs (Song of Songs 4:9) and through an acknowledgment [End Page 130] of the land’s continuous history, which predates monotheistic religion and dualistic conflict. The Ain Sakhri figurine is a piece of this new historical narrative. Click for larger view View full resolution Maya von Ziegesar. You entice me with but one of your eyes, 2019. Plaster gauze, string. [End Page 131] Maya von Ziegesar Maya von Ziegesar is a sculptor and philosophy PhD student from New York City. Her philosophical work explores coloniality, ideology, and practices of epistemic resistance, especially in Asian diasporic communities. Her artwork explores surface, volume, and skin. Before starting her PhD studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, she worked at Humboldt-Universität in Berlin, taught English in South Korea, and got a degree in philosophy and visual art from Princeton University. She can be reached at mvonziegesar@gradcenter.cuny.edu. Works Cited Boyd, Brian and Jill Cook. 1993. “A Reconsideration of the ‘Ain Sakhri’ Figurine.” In Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 59: 399–405. Google Scholar Boyd, Brian, Hamed Salem, and Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins. 2015. “Toxic Ecologies of Occupation.” EnviroSociety. http://www.envirosociety.org/2015/04/toxic-ecologies-of-occupation/. Google Scholar MacGregor, Neil. 2010. A History of the World in 100 Objects. London: Allen Lane. Google Scholar Noegel, Scott B., and Gary A. Rendsburg. 2009. “The Song of Songs: Translation and Notes.” In Solomon’s Vineyard: Literary and Linguistic Studies in the Song of Songs. Atlanta: SBL Press. http://faculty.washington.edu/snoegel/PDFs/articles/Song%20of%20Songs%20Translation.pdf. Google Scholar Pardes, Ilana. 2013. Agnon’s Moonstruck Lovers: The Song of Songs in Israeli Culture. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Google Scholar Copyright © 2023 Maya von Ziegesar