Tuesday, February 17, 2004

By Sally Kalson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There is a small indoor pool in Pittsburgh whose regular visitors arrive only at night, having told no one where they were going. It's the mikvah, a ritual bath in which observant Jewish women traditionally immerse themselves the night before they marry and after their monthly cycle, before resuming intimacy with their husbands.

	Photographer Janice Rubin used models in her underwater photographs for "The Mikvah Project" because the baths are such a private, sometimes secret ritual. Click photo for larger image.

Visiting the mikvah has long been a private, even secret practice, passed down from mother to daughter for thousands of years. That's what makes the exhibition at the American Jewish Museum of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh so unusual.

"The Mikvah Project," by photographer Janice Rubin and essayist Leah Lax, lifts the veil of secrecy on this ancient practice but in a modest and respectful manner. It also documents a resurgence in the practice, now being used by some secular as well as observant women in ways never envisioned by their grandmothers.

The show includes a series of black-and-white "immersion" photos, which Rubin shot underwater from discreet angles using models rather than actual ritual bathers. Real-life subjects are photographed mostly in other situations -- at a wedding, holding a baby, standing by a stream -- without recognizable faces. Also anonymous are the accompanying quotes, which were culled by Lax from long interviews with the subjects.

Underwater photographs such as this one prompted women who came to the show's premiere in March 2002 to share their experiences, leading to more photographs and quotations from women from across the country. Click photo for larger image.

The word "mikvah" means "collection of natural water" -- a mikvah can be an ocean or river, and indoor baths use rainfall along with municipal water. Rabbi Yisroel Miller of Congregation Poale Zedeck in Squirrel Hill said that the ritual derives by Jewish tradition from the high priest who had to undergo a ritual bath before entering Solomon's temple. (Miller noted that there is a separate men's mikvah, used by the observant for its spiritualizing effect.)

Rubin and Lax said their aims for the show were two-fold. They wanted to document mikvah's current "comeback," wherein women across the spectrum are using the practice in new ways -- to be "reborn" after spousal or sexual abuse, for example, or following divorce, or to mark recovery from illness.

In addition, they wanted to give women who practice the ritual a way to voice their feelings about it. The quotes run the gamut -- some of the subjects regard mikvah as a welcome opportunity for spiritual renewal, others consider it an archaic chore demeaning to women. And in most cases, the subjects were speaking about the topic for the first time in their lives.

Rubin and Lax, both of Houston, were teenage friends who followed divergent paths and fell out of touch. Rubin became a photojournalist who traveled the world, while Lax married young and raised seven children in the orthodox Jewish community. They reconnected at a point when both were re-examining their lives.

Lax showed Rubin a short story she'd written about a mikvah attendant who inadvertently helps a survivor of sexual abuse heal via the ritual. That gave Rubin the idea for the series.

	IF YOU GO When: Monday through Thursday, 6:15 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 6:15 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 1 to 7 p.m.; and Sunday, 7:45 a.m. to 6 p.m., through March 28 Where: Fine/Perlow & Weis Gallery, at the JCC at 5738 Forbes Ave. Related events include: Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. -- free lecture on "Bathing, Purity and the Body: The Mikvah in Context," by Elizabeth Roark, professor of arts and design at Chatham College. March 21, 2 p.m. -- "Evolution of Water Rituals in Diverse Cultures," with University of Pittsburgh professors David Brodsky (rabbinic studies) and Fred Clothe (Asian studies) and Duquesne University professor Jean Donovan (theology).

"I had dismissed mikvah as something archaic that stigmatized women as unclean," Rubin said. "But when I read Leah's story, it occurred to me that maybe there was some potential in this for transformation."

She had never shot photographs underwater before and wanted to try it.

"But I also knew I had to keep the photos modest out of respect for the privacy inherent in the ritual.

"The images are not sexual," she emphasized. "To photograph a nude woman and not have the images be sexual was a challenge."

Lax said the project has found a broad base of support because she and Rubin were always respectful of Jewish law and of their subjects' privacy.

"Images of women in the media are always selling something and tend to be very evocative," said Lax. "Our show is different. It's very inner-focused and spiritual, and it's not selling anything at all."

At first, the project had only the underwater photos. But during its March 2002 premiere at a gallery in Houston, something surprising happened.

"Women approached me, whispering their mikvah experiences," said Rubin. The same thing occurred at the second exhibition, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

"I wanted to talk to these women and find out more -- how did they feel about mikvah, what role did it play in their lives?"

Lax agreed to help her friend. They set off across the country, talking to women from all walks of life. Knowing their subjects would not speak openly if their identities were revealed, the duo gave each a signed legal document promising them anonymity.

"We collected wonderful stories," said Lax. "Behind every subject displayed with a single quote, I've got a 30- to 50-page transcript. It was an artistic challenge to distill that down to the essence of what that person had to stay."

Rabbi Miller, who has seen some of the photos, called the renewed attention to mikvah "magnificent."

"The emphasis on the spiritual aspect as opposed to mere mechanics of the ritual is refreshing," he said.

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