Life Support Invitation to Prayer #2
Judith Margolis
2019
This book joins journal entries with drawings and paintings, from the five years my mother was ill and the yahrzeit year following her death. Bearing witness in hospital rooms and at home, to family dynamics, in the face of emotionally charged life and death decisions while juggling the demands of marriage, motherhood, and professional obligations. I explore the tension between prolonging life and relieving suffering while considering the physical versus spiritual nature of death. How ironic that a life-long conflicted relationship with my mother did not prevent me from providing her with the most respectful and tender assistance to die.
Originally commissioned by Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion (New York) for the Exhibition "Living in the Moment, Contemporary Artists Celebrate Jewish Time," and published as a limited edition (12), hand-bound (by Yehuda Miklaf), Bright Idea Books/ Jerusalem, 2000.
- Copies: 500
- Pages: 94
- Type of binding: Hard Cover
- Dimensions (cm): 10.5X16
- Type of printing: Offset
- Publication: Penn State Press
- Place of publication: Philidelphia, US
- Book photography: Leafing: Yair Meyuhas & Shiraz Grinbaum
- ISBN: 9780271083735
Judith Margolis is an Israel-based American essayist and artist who makes paintings, drawings, artist's books, and multi-media collages. Much of her work explores tensions between consciousness, feminism, and religious ritual tradition. Since 2000, Margolis has been the Art Editor of Nashim: The Journal of Jewish Women's Studies and Gender Issues, published by Indiana University Press. She is the Creative Director of Bright Idea Books, which produces limited edition and unique artist's books. She lives and works in Jerusalem.
