About

Artist Statement:

When I was in my mid-twenties, my mind and body broke down. A month after beginning my MSc. in Neuroscience, I experienced sensory and cognitive symptoms and was eventually diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

Art and creative expression is a key part of my own healing (a word that originates from the root "hælan," to make whole). I approach art as a space to engage with the chaotic experience of illness, and the wonder of creation.

My favorite medium is collage, where I use small, torn-out fragments to build something new and whole. Through an intuitive and associative process, I engage with the themes of: fragmentation, sensory overwhelm, the dualities of living between health/illness, and the desire towards transformation.

Artist Bio:

Yael Shira Toren (b. 1993, Jerusalem) is an artist, writer, creative educator, and community builder.

She holds a B.A. in Psychology-Neuroscience-Philosophy from Washington University in St. Louis, and an MSc. Neuroscience from Tel Aviv University, in the department of Human Genetic and Molecular Biochemistry.

Through personal experience with chronic health conditions, Yael became interested in mind-body medicine, the stress/trauma-disease connection, and the power and practice of creative expression. She was trained as a Jewish Meditation Teacher through the Institute of Jewish Spirituality, worked as a Teaching Artist with the ARC after-school programs, and has hosted 15+ community art events for adults in Tel Aviv.

She is currently preparing for a degree in Expressive Arts Therapy, and her dream is to build a clinical practice specializing in helping people with chronic illness.

When she is not making art, you can find her by the sea.

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