The Mountain Girl

Almost everybody knows the Swiss story of "Heidi the Mountain Girl". My figure doesn't look like the blond braids Heidi from the original story, but I call her Heidi just the same. Working on this sculpture, I was thinking of a memory I have: I was 8 and just finished second grade. During the summer vacation, we moved from the city of Haifa to a small, remote farm in the north of Israel. My parents were busy with the transition, their new jobs and my baby brother. I was a timid and shy child and I used to read a lot, so I imagined how my life would be like the Heidi's. I was so sure (that asking about it never occurred to me) that I would not go to school anymore and would have to take out a herd of goats and sheep every morning to the pastures. I was fascinated and terrified at the same time. Of course reality was nothing like it, but it remained as a dramatic memory to me. This figure sculpture is the Heidi I was in my mind.