I dug out my fisheye for our trip to the Machtesh, as the Ramon Crater is also known. In fact it's not really a crater at all, because it has nothing to do with the impact of a meteor or with volcanic activity. "Machtesh" is an untranslatable Hebrew word that refers to the particular way this fantastically large hole in the ground was formed -- apparently through the action of water seeping into the peak of a huge mountain and causing it to erode and eventually collapse.

Whatever made it happen, it's breathtakingly strange and beautiful. Ross agrees that it was worth his driving two and a half hours to get to when he was sick as a dog. :-)

Large, so you can see why I love it.

I dug out my fisheye for our trip to the Machtesh, as the Ramon Crater is also known. In fact it's not really a crater at all, because it has nothing to do with the impact of a meteor or with volcanic activity. "Machtesh" is an untranslatable Hebrew word that refers to the particular way this fantastically large hole in the ground was formed -- apparently through the action of water seeping into the peak of a huge mountain and causing it to erode and eventually collapse.

Whatever made it happen, it's breathtakingly strange and beautiful. Ross agrees that it was worth his driving two and a half hours to get to when he was sick as a dog. :-)

Are you getting sick of desert pictures yet? Because I could do this forever.

Large.

Seriously, I feel like I need an intravenous coffee drip.

There was a banal (but thankfully short) poem carved into a small, flat island of rock jutting out over the crater. It appeared in both Hebrew and English. I preferred this oblique view of it.

Are you getting sick of desert pictures yet? Because I could do this forever.

Large

They never knocked. Never spoke. Just stood there—always in the same suits, always facing the same direction, like a memory frozen in the act of forgetting you. You pulled back the curtain, held your breath, and watched. They did not move.

You’re not sure when they arrived. Only that they never left.

Artist Process:

This piece uses sharp contrast and framing to build tension—placing the viewer in the role of the observer, half-hidden behind a caravan window. The color palette leans toward muted autumnal tones, emphasizing the leaf-littered ground and bare trees as symbols of decay and stasis. The repetition of identical suited figures evokes a surreal, uncanny sensation, inspired by dream logic and surveillance culture. The stillness is deliberate—this moment feels like it could last forever, or snap in an instant.

#MelOrchid #Melora #RhondaMelo #MelOrchid<3 #MelOrchidArtist #10000HourProject #AIArt #PostPhotographic #GalleryArt

#TheOnesWhoWait #SurrealWindow #QuietThreat #UncannyStillness #MenInSuits #WatcherAndWatched #ThresholdTension #FrozenMemory #OutsideButNear

Artist Statement:

She Remembers Everything explores the haunting permanence of girlhood as seen through the eyes of a porcelain memory. The doll eternally pristine becomes a vessel for suppressed stories, generational trauma, and the unseen witness. Her wide, unblinking gaze reflects not innocence, but endurance.

The shadow is central: a second self, a soul without voice, or perhaps the true version left behind long ago. This piece is part of a broader investigation into femininity, relics, and stillness as a form of resistance. Rendered in unnaturally perfect clarity, it deliberately straddles beauty and discomfort.

The viewer is invited to ask: who placed the doll here, and why does she look so alive?

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#SheRemembersEverything #PorcelainMemory #HauntedFeminine #UncannyStillness #MeloraArtist #Melora<3 #Melora #RhondaMelo #SurrealGothic #AIasMedium #MidCenturyTerror #SymbolicGirlhood