Shin · 神 · שין

In Hebrew, shin is the letter before last, and its form embodies the spiritual meaning of fierce change; burning and transmutation. As such, it traditionally stands for the link between the depths below and the heights above.

Ronnie Karfiol is a new media artist originally from Tel Aviv, living in East Asia. Her body of work joins Jewish mythology together with impressions of the contemporary computer game culture that dominates East Asia, such as Genshin Impact.

Shin reflects on the idea of foreignness, physical, local and digital, as a young woman fluent in gaming culture. Through the image and the double character of the "Shin" (by way of the Chinese reading of the kanji 神, which is also the name of the Hebrew letter ש), Karfiol creates a vision of an entity, part seraph, a frightening mythological Jewish angel, and part untraditional self-portrait of a woman looking to find a vantage point of her own in this world.

Commissioned for Ona Untitled Space in Tokyo, Japan (2023), the exhibition featured a single-channel video installation (3:03 min), 3D prints (resin and FDM), wax and feathers, and a Japanese Furigana notebook.

Curator: Lital Bar Noy · Ona Untitled Space, Tokyo, 2023