Tamar Browner, the first participant of Project 2020

Tamar Braunner’s email, March 17, 2012:

“Hi Sarit,
I apologize for not chatting with you since yesterday, but there’s no doubt that our meeting provided me with a significant emotional upheaval in a positive sense. I’ve been sitting and thinking about everything that happened there since yesterday. I wanted to tell you that today, after a long time, I woke up with a smile and with something I call ‘appetite for life’ (I brought this phrase from there and I’ll share it with you, of course).

First of all, thank you. Even though I know it wasn’t easy for you, the fact that I saw you physically, talked with you, heard you, shared with you, and even hugged you made me realize that stories like these about healing have their place in reality and not just in fantasy. There’s truth in it. Indeed, it’s possible to try. There’s no choice but to roll up our sleeves and fight with all our might. Like you, I also want my own family, a loving partner, and a life without small doubts that gnaw at you. And I will win and succeed because it’s possible!

Two weeks after I received the email, on Passover 2012, Tamar Braunner passed away at the age of 31 from heart failure. Tamar suffered from anorexia and bulimia and was the first participant in the 2020 project. Her tragic death confronted me with some not-so-simple questions: Did I take on a project that I couldn’t handle at all? Why do I need this in my life right now? Do I continue the project, or do I stop even before I started?

Tamar Brauner | 1981-2012

The decision to continue the project was not easy, but in hindsight, it was the right decision. Her sad and unnecessary death was the driving force that pushed me all the way. At a certain point, I felt that this project was part of her will.

Tamar didn’t manage to fill out the questionnaire I prepared for the project, a questionnaire in which she was asked to describe in detail where she would be in 2020. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to paint her an optimistic vision of her future. I feel that even in our only meeting, she already knew she wouldn’t make it there.

In that surreal meeting, we sat together in a car, outside the rain didn’t stop pouring, and we didn’t stop talking. There, in the car, she showed me the compass she received from her father, and I asked for her permission to take a photo. When I returned home that day, stunned and shaken by the powerful encounter, I discovered that I didn’t have a memory card in my camera. Our meeting was the only one not documented in photos, and the memory that remained with me from it is probably meant to stay deeply engraved in my mind.
During that time, I painted the thematic painting for the project, a painting that was supposed to accompany the crowdfunding campaign. In hindsight, I realized that the girl with the compass, the humming, and the pink goggles looking at me from the submarine window was created in her inspiration.”

The process of creating the theme painting of the 2020 project, inspired by the meeting with Tamar Brauner

COMPASS | 60 diameter The theme painting of “Project 2020, an optimistic social art project”

The exciting meeting with Tamar Brauner’s father, at the opening of the exhibition.

Project 2020 is an optimistic social art project. The project began in 2012 and continued until 2015. The project was inspired by my personal and optimistic journey to overcome a 16-year struggle with an eating disorder.