In 8 Stories to the Moon, a world where the boundaries between fear and peace, memory and healing, blur and merge. This body of work is the visual manifestation of an intimate grapple with postna- tal OCD—a life lived under the shadow of intrusive thoughts, each one sharp as glass, each demanding to be soothed. Each work is deeply layered and nuanced like the scar tissue grown over wounds. Underpaintings like scratches and abrasions. Fast, un- ruly. These slashes of paint, unforgiving and relentless seas under a boat trying to reach port. The build up of paint over the tumultu- ous ground, covering gritty realities in picturesque day dreams. The duality here—a tension, much like the push and pull of the moon on the tides. Itzstein captures this tension in the way she lets color speak—how one shade converses with another, how the initial vio- lent strokes are subdued, not erased, by layers of calm. Her work embodies the dualities we all live with: the hidden self versus the one we show the world, the rapid heartbeat of fear versus the slow exhale of peace, the primitive rawness of survival versus the civi- lized façade we present. 8 Stories to the Moon. Each story; both an allegory and a step in the direction of the moon—an emblem of the feminine, of nurtur- ing light. The moon’s cycles echo the emotional terrain that Itzstein intuitively explores through this body of work. imbued with these subtle symbols—each one a thread in the intricate tapestry of heal- ing, guiding both the artist and viewer through the rhythms of life’s constant dance between loss and renewal. - words by Venn Miles