Waterfall Photographer to Beautify MACoM
Photo gallery seeks to preserve tradition of mikvah through nature.
Rachel is a reporter/contributor for the AJT and graduated from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. After post graduate work at Columbia University, she teaches writing at Georgia State and hosts/produces cable programming. She can currently be seen on Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters.
Sandy Springs artist Margery Diamond will exhibit her water-inspired photography in the new gallery space of the Metro Atlanta Community Mikvah as MACoM’s first guest artist.
With the addition of the gallery area and Diamond’s photography, MACoM hopes to make the ancient tradition of mikvah immersion more approachable and meaningful for those wanting more education and information about the process.
Michael Ilai (right), who heads MACoM’s hiddur mitzvah committee, has worked with Margery Diamond to make her the community mikvah’s first artist in residence.
The chair of MACoM’s hiddur mitzvah (beautifying the mitzvah) committee, Michal Ilai, said the idea behind the partnership with Diamond is that any mitzvah is made more meaningful by adding beauty.
In keeping with the concept of hiddur mitzvah, we want to invite the community to our holy place, she said. It is our hope that everyone enjoys the beautiful art that is displayed on our walls.
As a nature photographer, Diamond sticks to her roots with this exhibit.
I believe everything that is important can be learned through the experience of nature, she said. Her award-winning images are exhibited throughout Israel and the United States and published in several national and regional magazines.
Diamond’s exhibit, Mayim Rabim: A Great Many Waters, will mirror the water theme of the mikvah while paying homage to the waterfalls of the world, most notably of North Carolina. The 18-piece show will feature images of water from the photographer’s travels that she said evoke a sense of wonder.
“I believe that everything that is important can be learned through the experience of nature,” Diamond said. “Just as a waterfall opens our hearts to letting life pour into us, the mikvah opens itself to us so that we can pour ourselves into life.”
Margery Diamond is surrounded in her home by photographs she has taken around the world.
A public reception to open the exhibit will run from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday, June 11, at MACoM. After the mikvah’s annual meeting from 6 to 7, the gallery will hold the official grand opening, during which board members and others attending MACoM’s annual meeting will receive a private tour of the exhibit from Diamond and refreshments will be served.
The photographs are available for sale framed or unframed. Eighteen percent of all sales will be donated to MACoM.
What: MACoM annual meeting and gallery opening
Where: 700-A Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs
When: Annual meeting at 6 p.m. Sunday, June 11; grand opening at 7
Cost: Free; RSVP by June 2 to blenoble@atlantamikvah.org or 404-549-9679
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