Obituary

Joan Karmen Obituary The Guardian
Jan Jenkins, Pranjadevi and Penny Travers
The Guardian, Wednesday 9 March 2011

Joan Karmen

Joan Karmen’s interest in Buddhism was sparked by attending an overwhelmingly positive funeral

Our friend Joan Karmen, who has died aged 71, was a painter, photographer and embroiderer. Joan stood up for causes and people she believed in, making her a daunting opponent and a wonderful companion. She had many friends who loved her offbeat humour, warmth and daring.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Joan was cared for initially by her grandmother. She never knew her father, but when her mother remarried, she gained two stepbrothers, Marvin and Ted, and her family life was enriched. She struggled, however, to gain her mother’s approval. This insecurity drove her lifelong search for loving attachments and her remarkable artistic creativity.

A bright, outgoing personality, as a young leftist Zionist she worked on a kibbutz, where she was known by her Hebrew name, Ona. Disillusioned by Judaism, Joan, by now an art therapist, moved to London in 1970 with the encouragement of her friend Doris Lessing. She later trained and worked as a social worker, although Crohn’s disease foreshortened her career. But she filled her retirement with study – a fine arts degree at Goldsmiths College, London, then a textiles MA.

From her flat in east London, she watched the renovation of the old fire station in Bethnal Green into the London Buddhist Centre in 1978, and became acquainted with the Buddhists involved. When attending a Buddhist funeral, she was overwhelmed by the positivity of the ceremony, and this triggered her own interest in Buddhism. Ordained into the Triratna Buddhist order in 2000, she was named Vidyajyoti, meaning “light of aesthetic appreciation”. She likened her ordination to “arriving in the promised land after 40 years in an emotional desert”. Her Jewish roots nevertheless remained important.

During a spell in hospital near the end of her life, visitors came en masse. Nurses thought they had a celebrity on their hands. “It’s like I’ve won the lottery,” she remarked, “but I won’t have the time to spend my winnings.” Of the many gifts she left, her art is the most tangible. But what touched many hearts were her courage and indomitable zest for life.

She is survived by Marvin, two nieces and two cousins.