Aliza Thomas, originally from Israel and now living in the Netherlands, moves through life much like she moves through her art—fluidly, openly, and always connected. She wears many hats: artist, papermaker, art teacher, Qigong and Taijiquan instructor, and proud mother and grandmother. Thomas brings a rich blend of cultural influence, craftsmanship, and personal wisdom to her work. Her art isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about energy, connection, and transformation. She embodies a full-circle creative life, merging artistic practice with movement, health, and mindfulness.
Her latest piece, titled “This is my contribution for today; time is changing fast. Look to the exciting side!”, captures her spirit perfectly. It’s a burst of material, color, and emotion—a physical record of thought, play, and reflection.
Wires, Paper, and Time
Standing before Thomas’s work, you feel like you’ve caught a thought mid-flight. Nothing is fixed. Everything is moving. Her artwork, measuring 90 x 109 cm, is made from kozo paper and paper string—materials that are strong yet delicate, ancient yet fresh. Thomas doesn’t just make images; she builds experiences.
The piece explodes with energy. Curved and straight lines fight and dance across the surface. Black wire-like strings knot and unravel, while shimmers of color break through stitched, netted patches. There’s a roughness and a wild beauty in the textures: raw paper fibers, flashes of recycled CD shards, bits of cloth. It’s as if the materials themselves are questioning the passing of time.
Thomas writes, “Wires, connections, time! Circles, while straight and curved lines shine.” Her lines aren’t just visual; they are temporal. They loop and twist like memories trying to hold on before slipping away.
A World That Twists and Turns
Her invitation is clear: “Turn round! You’ll find a different space.” In Thomas’s world, there is no one fixed reality. Every movement, every step forward or twist around, reveals something new. It’s not about understanding everything at once. It’s about moving with it. Feeling your way through.
The colors—bright pinks, earthy browns, flashes of gold—push and pull against each other. They create tension but also moments of delight. The wires and connections echo the way we try to make sense of a changing world: sometimes messy, sometimes beautiful.
Thomas isn’t offering a map. She’s offering a dance.
Memory, Change, and the Big “Null”
At the heart of the work is a question about time. Thomas plays with the idea of the “big null”—a visual symbol that appears in her writing and artwork. It’s a kind of void, a still point, a reset button.
“Can you twist time? Go back to where we were? Turning back is not possible!” she asks.
Her answer is both simple and profound: “Forward is the way!”
There’s no nostalgia here. No clinging to the past. Thomas embraces the flow of time, the inevitable forward movement. Her materials—torn, woven, shining, tangled—mirror the human experience of change. They remind us that every twist and turn, every frayed edge, is part of the story.
Creating a Different World
What makes Thomas’s work compelling is her refusal to separate life from art. Everything is part of the same conversation: her Israeli roots, her Dutch present, her teaching, her spiritual practice, her motherhood, her art.
In this piece, she calls on the viewer not just to look, but to move, to feel, to create. Twist and turn. Step into a different space. Forward.
Her work is a living map—one that’s always changing, just like time itself.
