Hana Alisa Omer Born in 1947 to a family of holocaust survivors, I grew up with gaping questions of faith and identity in communist Czechoslovakia. Emigration to Israel in 1967 set the stage for my long maturation on personal, artistic and social levels. Specializing in graphics at the Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem, I worked as a book illustrator for major Israeli publishers. Parallel to this work my individual art went through periods of "inner landscape" paintings, sculpture and portraits. In 1983 I became a member of the Ein Hod Artist Village. There I produced many drawings of the movement of the human body. These were inspired by my work as a Yoga teacher in the nearby community and educational centers. My art was exhibited periodically at the Ein Hod Artist Gallery. In 1995 I was commissioned by Dr Yitzhak Hayutman, to paint his visions of the Heavenly Jerusalem. With his inspiration I painted four major paintings, which express thru visual symbolism the age-old yearning of humanity for redemption, peace and unity. This creative cooperation began a new period in my artwork – connected to my Judaic cultural sources. After finishing the above mentioned paintings, I understood that my work would now be in "Earthly Jerusalem" - In 1999 I moved here, where I initiated an ecological /community project and participated in interfaith peace activity. In 2004 I created one more major painting "The Opening of the Gate of Mercy"- the fifth or central image in the series of the "Heavenly & Earthly Jerusalem". In 2005 I began to work on a subject that I postponed for a long time- my family and cultural roots in the series of "Roots" and "Heritage Gates". Today I'm a grandmother and this fact spurs me to go on with my creative and social activity for connecting "Earthly and Heavenly Jerusalem"… I am open to challenging co-creative art/social projects.