Holocaust survivor Ora Markstein takes the personal and turns it into the universal. Her striking stone sculptures are inspired by her own experiences and feelings. But her themes of love, loss and renewal speak to all of us.

Twenty-five of her works created between 1975 and 2004 are showcased at the Art Gallery of Hamilton as part of its Atelier series.

The Hamilton sculptor was born in Hungary and came to Canada in the 1970s. That's when she began to thrive as an artist. A prolific sculptor, she works mostly with marble, alabaster and soapstone.

Markstein excels at the human figure, creating idealized, simplified, but almost always lifelike forms. In their sinuous bodies and barely there facial features, Markstein's figures often recall Art Nouveau, a style that flourished in Europe about 100 years ago.

Her sculptures consist of single and multiple figures taken from the Bible, classical mythology and ordinary life.

Lot's Wife (1994) is based on a story in the Old Testament's Book of Genesis. Lot and his family live in Sodom. When he learns the city is about to be destroyed, the family flees. They are told by angels not to look back. But Lot's wife does. She is turned into a pillar of salt.

Her crime is disobedience. But her action is very human and feminine: she is already longing for her home.

Because this is a free-standing sculpture, Markstein encourages us to walk around it. When we do, Lot's wife appears to change before our eyes.

As we approach the work from the front, we are met by a sturdy, wide-hipped, nude woman. Markstein has simplified the body by carving the figure from head to thighs. The smooth pink of the alabaster stands in for her flesh.

Lot's wife turns her head to her right and points us in that direction, from where we can see her face, her right arm and a bit of her hair.

From this angle, we see her looking toward her home, but she hasn't yet been turned into a pillar of salt.

But, when we move to the back of the sculpture, we see her transformed.

As a sculptor, Markstein is able to use textural differences in the stone to move the story along. From the back, for instance, we see what looks like Lot's wife's hair.

The surface is irregular, as hair can be, but it's also white, the colour of salt.

Markstein also exploits her material to great effect in Psalm 137 (2001), a grey alabaster sculpture consisting of two seated figures. Psalm 137 refers to the Hebrews lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.

The couple in Psalm 137 is more stylized, less lifelike than Lot's Wife.

Looking at the two faceless women from the front, we see the figure on the right frontally, but the one on the left has her back to us.

They are close together but, when we get to the back, we see the two are separated by an area of roughened alabaster.

It's as though the closeness of one moment is replaced by separation in the blink of an eye.

Regina Haggo, a former professor of art history at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, teaches at the Dundas Valley School of Art. You can contact her at dhaggo@thespec.com

Showtime

Who: Ora Markstein

Where: Art Gallery of Hamilton, 123 King St. W.

When: Until April 27

Phone: 905-527-6610