’Having Karni naturally transformed my whole life experience, shifting it into a more domestic and isolated sphere, especially after two years of creating and learning alongside fellow artists at Slade. The sudden lack of time for myself made it difficult to find space, both physically and mentally, to paint. Without access to a studio, I had to adapt and work from home. These limitations forced me to approach creativity differently: painting smaller, quicker watercolors that carried emotional power through their expressive marks, or turning to still lifes that reflected my immediate surroundings, often incorporating Karni’s toys into the compositions.

During that time, I spent hours simply observing Karni paint, amazed by the freedom in his mark-making - so expressive and uninhibited, yet somehow feeling completely intentional. That quiet inspiration stayed with me and helped me reconnect with my own practice when I finally returned to the studio, where I began exploring more abstract works influenced by his drawings and sense of play.

But more than anything, since Karni was born, I’ve felt that he is the most meaningful creation I could ever make. For a while, that deep sense of fulfillment quieted the urgency to make art. It was as if the act of creating had shifted from canvas to life itself. Still, the challenges of motherhood, its intensity and intimacy, have started to feed back into my practice in ways I’m only beginning to understand.’

Singer and actress Liraz Charhi photographed at her home for ‘Creative Mothers’.

Gal Melnick is an artist whose works are compositions of shapes and colors, which create a dialog between different mediums. "I find inspiration in various subjects such as nature, mythologies, modern culture and the interaction between the banality of everyday life with imaginary worlds. I’m always curious to examine the transformation of two dimensional shapes and lines into three dimensional objects. My interest is to create a situation in which the objects begin to lose their relation to place, time and form."

Tom Meira Armony is a producer, keyboardist, and composer for TV, film, and media. I had the pleasure of photographing her and her daughters Eliya and Ruth at their beautiful home in Jaffa for my 'Creative Mothers' project. Tom is the first of three mothers I photographed during my travels.