Vestals, ancient priestesses of the cult of Vesta, the Roman goddess, had the duty to kindle the perennial fire in the circular temple of the veiled, invisible goddess. Vesta’s flame was both private (the home, the earth, the inward intimacy, the center of the self) and public (the country, the state, the city). Percal’s Vestals as inner/outer signs of femininity expand  and root in a self-centered space scorched by fires, ravaged by winds, torn apart by explosions, and yet  steadfast and alive. Building a bridge between the archetypes of classical culture and the grief of modern Israeli consciousness, these delicate, precarious presences mirror the imbalance – always lost and regained - of contemporary self in our world of war and conflict.