milestones book
A Journey Through 50 Monuments and Memorial Sites in Israel
This book started with a conversation with Assaf Harari from Piece of History. We got talking about design, history, and the monuments scattered across Israel. The idea was to bring fifty of them into one illustrated book. A lot of stone and stories to fit between two covers.
Written by Michael Jacobson and illustrated by me, Milestones follows a century of history, from the early days of Jewish settlement and the founding of the State, to the events of October 7, 2023.
2024
For me, the tricky part was making each monument feel like one of my drawings while staying true to the original and the person who designed it. I used simple shapes, fine lines and textures with a little roughness around the edges. There’s something quiet, sometimes almost naïve, about the illustrations. Alongside them, Michael’s writing tells stories of battles, loss and sacrifice.
This contrast is what I love most about the book. It feels familiar and very Israeli - joy alongside grief, just like Memorial Day followed by Independence Day.
The book also connects this history to the present, including the Nova Festival memorial and the commemorative stickers that appeared across Israel after October 7. For me, this book is ultimately about taking a heavy historical subject and giving it a contemporary, human and accessible visual language, inviting people to look again at the places and stories that shaped the landscape around us.
