Miriam Reik Photogapher

Can I Say Shalom

“Can I Say Shalom’ is at once a greeting and an assertion - a way of introducing oneself as a Jew and recognizing another as a Jew. This is a password into a private world. A world that I grew up in (in North West London) amidst the womblike and sheltered atmosphere of the extended community and one that I rejected as a young adult so I could pursue a less restrictive way of life. I was curious about the bigger world outside. When I reached 40 and had established a successful career as a photographer, I found myself ready to take a look back at the culture that I had rejected twenty years earlier. These photographs are witness to this exploration of my ambivalent relationship with the community and my understanding of the complexities of Jewish culture, with the advantage of the critical distance I had established during my absence. What these photographs reveal, which took me by surprise, is an intimacy and informality that stems from the way my camera was allowed to participate in all the events. I found that the door to this private Jewish world had never really closed behind me and I could ungrudgingly acknowledge and appreciate my Jewish identity for the first time.