THE TEAR OF JERUSALEM - Tuğrul Pekgenç & Valeria Gypsette | TRÆVOL™ Gallery

THE TEAR OF JERUSALEM A lotus opens upon midnight-blue waters. Ivory light rises between its petals, touching a young woman’s hands, the pages of the book she holds, and the delicate folds of her gown. Her head is gently bowed. As her gaze rests upon the pages, the vastness surrounding her makes room for her silence. The dark face of the moon remains visible behind her. A luminous crescent traces its way through that darkness, leaving a fine light around her hair. A small cross hangs from the beads descending over her chest. Beside her, upon another lotus, the flames of a seven-branched menorah tremble with the movement of the water. Each light has a source of its own. Yet the traces they leave upon the water mingle. A golden word emerges among the waves: القدس — Jerusalem. For a moment, it becomes legible upon the water, then recedes into the broken reflections. The eye searches for it again. Much as a person searches, each time, for another meaning within a familiar prayer. For centuries, Jerusalem has been a city toward which people turn their faces, undertake journeys, and carry its name in their prayers. In this work, its memory lives within the lights gathered around a woman. The crescent, the cross, and the menorah retain their own meanings as they stand close together within the same night. The water flowing between them carries the light of each toward the others. The book in the woman’s hands lies open. In her posture before its pages, we seek one of worship’s most intimate moments: that instant when the sound of the world outside slowly recedes, and a person turns their whole attention toward God. A reverent stillness in which the words have yet to reach the lips, though the heart has already felt their weight. Perhaps this is how a tear is born. A person cannot find a sentence for what they carry within; still, they feel it with complete clarity. Beside sorrow, there is room for gratitude; beside longing, for compassion all within that single drop. THE TEAR OF JERUSALEM is an artistic imagining that brings together prayers rising from different faiths around the idea of turning toward one God. It carries the hope that we may approach what others hold sacred with care. The night continues. The book remains open. The small flames keep burning. And the water carries every light that reaches it.