The series Journey Books, which was created in 2011, several years following the artist’s return to Israel, evokes the intense psychological experiences that occurred during his three-year-long journey. This series is based on eight books which the artist bought and onto which he made various interventions through drawing, carving, collage, and burning. These interventions are directly related to his inner emotional journey in the course of his travels.

The first book in this series, The Human Body, dwells on the relationship between mind and body. It was followed by artistic interventions in several tourist guides for Asia, and in a picture book of Europe. On the first page of this picture book, Steinberg created a carved ditch into which he glued real earth. This ditch, or tunnel, can be interpreted as a symbol of an inner, mental process excavation. Another book, in German, features an image of a small child with a stream of insects and birds flying out of his wide-open mouth. For the artist, this image is a souvenir of a single day in the course of his journey, during which many emotions and feelings suddenly rose to the surface, bringing about a sort of catharsis.

Finally, there is an old Russian Bible, purchased by the artist in Jerusalem. A hand-written inscription on one of the pages reads: “I forgot more than you will ever know.” This work emblematizes the underlying theme of the entire series – that of intense psychological and physical experiences that are remembered with neither pride nor regret, while bespeaking a highly lucid and honest acceptance of reality

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