Leann Shamash
Irma G: A Century of Hats and Spirit
Date installed: January, 2025
Medium: Photography
Artist’s website: leannshamashphotography.com
Artist’s blog: wordshavewings.net
Welcome to the Mary Jo Rines Virtual Gallery. Displaying her work in the online gallery below, and also in our gallery at church, is Newton-based educator and photographer, Leann Shamash. Leann’s exhibit titled Irma G: A Century of Hats and Spirit features captivating portraits of the artist’s mother, Irma Gershkowitz, striking expressive poses in hats representing a life spanning nearly a century. Drawing us into the relationship between Leann and her mother, the photographs capture the treasure of life experience in Irma’s presence and the beauty and wonder that transcend age.
In addition to the Irma G: A Century of Hats and Spirit exhibit, we are pleased to share on this virtual gallery page several other photography and creative undertakings by Leann. Please scroll further down below the images of Irma G to see more background on theseprojects.
The Mary Jo Rines Gallery at First Parish was named for our founder and celebrated watercolorist. The mission of the Gallery is to "add another dimension to the spiritual fabric of our lives by exhibiting the work of visual artists who seek to contribute to a deeper understanding of the human condition”. Leann Shamash is a most welcome addition to the creative people whose vision and hard work help us on our path.
We hope you click through and enjoy the exhibit…
Best wishes,
The First Parish Art Committee
Meet Leann Shamash.
“Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” Abraham Joshua Heschel
Leann Shamash, a Newton, Massachusetts based photographer, hopes to visually follow the words of Abraham Joshua Heschel, that objects and individuals help to create wonder and radical amazement. Her subjects are varied, with the objective of finding the spark of life evident in people and objects.
Leann’s work in the field of Jewish education has helped to lend a spiritual lens to her photography. Her work with her mother, called “Irma G: A Century of Hats and Spirit” has been shown at the Griffin Museum of Photography through their Atelier program, the Daniels Art Gallery, The Jack Satter House and at the Newton Free Library. Photos from the collection and descriptions of the project have been written in the French weekly, L’Intimiste, and the blog Better After Fifty, the weekly newspaper, Jewish Boston and Hebrew College’s Koleinu. Leann also did an artist talk through The Jewish Arts Collective on both the work with her mother and another project called The Beauty of Aging, where Leann photographed individuals in their nineties along with advice for young people. Leann presented an artist talk at Orchard Cove and at Tamarisk Nursing Home on this work.
During Covid Leann curated a photographic record of the lives of eight women, aged 19-95, called Eight Women which included a year’s record of their photos and reflections of their lives. In addition, during COVID she photographed the Zoom room where she prayed the Memorial prayer for her mother along with mementos of other participants praying together in a project called The Memory Room, which she later published as a book.
Leann is a passionate, if imperfect gardener, and has a passion for photographing gardens, leaves, roots and trees. Her work on Seasonal Bouquets and Community Gardens reflect that interest.
Last year Leann and a group of more than seventy people published a Passover Haggadah, which combined art and text called ANU/WE : A Haggadah of Many Voices. Her blog called Words Have Wings has been an online presence for Torah commentary through poetry. A collection of her poems was published in 2023, called Words Have Wings.
Leann’s work has been shown at the Newton and Brewster Ladies’ Library, New England Biolabs, The Griffin Museum of Photography, the Zullo Gallery, the Daniel Gallery at Hebrew Senior Life, Brickbottom Gallery, Bromfield Gallery, Lawrence Memorial Hospital and in numerous libraries. She has a photo in the New England Biolab’s collection. She has been interviewed for her work on Seasonal Bouquets and Irma G: A Century of Hats and Spirit by NewTV.
First Parish Art Committee Note: Your journey through the work of Lean needn’t end with her featured Irma G: A Century of Hats and Spirit exhibit. Don’t miss the chance to sample her eloquent poetry and blog craft, learn about her ongoing ‘The Beauty of Aging’ portrait series, and listen to a Story Corps interview, with Irma delightfully recounting her adventures elbowing through the crowds at Boston’s infamous Filene’s Basement Sale. As the saying goes, “You shoulda been there!”.
We hope you enjoy Leann’s work. If you’d like, you can click below to send her a comment or question…
Irma G: A Century of Hats and Spirit…
What do we see when we see the elderly? As we breeze by we may observe stooped shoulders, crooked backs, gnarled hands, uncertain gaits, wrinkled skin.
What do we see when we see women who once walked with a confident stride now shuffling, grasping their walkers as their balance leaves them? Do we see our mothers as accumulations of books read, tears wiped, dishes cooked, jobs well done, families held together, countries traveled, wars fought, and peace kept? Or do we miss this when we glance around them instead of at them?
This was a shared project with my mother during the final year of her life where I photographed her in a century’s worth of hats. Irma was born in 1923. For 96 years she savored all that life had to offer. To say that Irma G. was an animated subject for this project would be an understatement. When she donned a hat, her sadness and anger disappeared and she beamed. In front of the lens, her moodiness dissipated like heavy fog. She laughed, she posed, she flirted and teased. The project transported her back in time physically and spiritually, as well.
My mother delighted in preparing for the photo shoots and in concocting creative poses. Whether she was wearing a beret, or a straw hat, or a kerchief, she reveled in seeing herself in the photos and noted how lovely she looked. She especially loved sharing those photos with others; these photos were a gift that validated both her past and her current identity. Most of all, the project gave her the gift of time with her daughter and to her daughter, the gift of spending meaningful time with her mother during her final year. Irma G died three months after the last of these photos were taken, in January of 2020. We remember her with a smile.
Irma G Resting in the Sunshine
Click images to enlarge and see full proportions ►
More from Leann Shamash…
Words Have Wings (link):
I began writing my blog, Words Have Wings, following the death of my mother, Irma G, in January of 2020. I wanted to do a series of reflections on reciting the Kaddish prayer, the prayer Jews recite which extols God and is recited by mourners three times a day for one year. I recognized what a life changing experience it was when I said the Kaddish for my dad five years earlier and I wanted to process this in the form of a blog. My first post was written while sitting shiva (the seven days of mourning for a relative) for my mom.
Soon after beginning to write this blog, COVID began to spread and the lockdown took place. When synagogues closed their doors, I began saying the kaddish at a Zoom synagogue service early each morning. Soon after that I began to write poetry and read that poetry on the weekly Torah portion at the online service. Words Have Wings became a place to write about COVID, family, the mourning process, and also life lessons we can take from the Torah.
Five years later and over 500 posts later, I still write and read my post each week at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline. The first year of poems was published as a book called Words Have Wings. My blog is my attempt to be one small voice in a world of many voices. Below are some posts directly related to my mom, Irma G.
Click below to see select blog entries:
Memories of the Charles (Mom’s poetry)
The Orphans Sitting on a Bench
Kaddish—the Value of Community
The Beauty of Aging (link):
The Beauty of Aging took place at the same time that I was photographing mom. I learned the lesson from mom to see the elderly better so I visited people at Orchard Cove in Canton, interviewed them and photographed them. In addition I asked them to give advice to young people from their own life experiences. That was perhaps the most interesting aspect of the project, to hear the advice of the elders.
‘Story Corps’ interview (link):
Irma G shared her story of Filene's Basement during a Great Thanksgiving Listen. This was recorded ten years ago. Please note that the Filene's story starts at the 45 second mark and ends at the 5 minute, 20 second mark.
