P R O J E C T S

HASIDIC BROOKLYN

One of my first personal documentary projects was photographing the Hasidic Jewish neighborhood in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, NY. To me, Williamsburg was Poland but with Chevy station wagons. The store signs in Yiddish, the men in black traditional clothes, modestly dressed women wearing Sheitels (wigs), children and more children. The dirty, littered streets and the smells wafting from bakeries and restaurants enchanted me. I felt I was both back in time to see how my ancestors might have lived but also very much in contemporary Brooklyn. I was drawn to the mix of traditional jewish culture and modernity and the challenge of photographing this insular community. The images are raw and gritty and full of human connection. At the time I was awarded a fellowship at the YIVO institute in New York to support this work. Eventually, over the course of three years among my friends and acquaintances there I came to realize that this project was as much a personal journey in exploring my Jewish identity as well as an exploration of the richness and enigma of Hasidic life.