The Hasidic community has fascinated me since I moved to New York two years ago. While my liberal, democratic and feminine sensibilities abhor the many ethically problematic aspects of this insular and patriarchal culture, I cannot help but be mesmerized by its visual omnipresence on certain (well delineated) blocks of Brooklyn.

My personal experience with the “Jewish body” is one of circumvention if not fear. Whether because of the desire to assimilate, the allure of fashion or the apprehension of anti-Semitism, the idea of physically expressing my belonging to the “chosen people” seemed extraneous if no absurd while growing up in Switzerland.

While I am far from even considering trading my jeans and heels for “modest” skirts, the sheer mass of “Jewish bodies” on Lee or Kingston Ave steers in me a form of pride and perhaps nostalgia for a form of Judaism that would be completely extinct if it weren’t for these Satmar and Lubavitch enclaves.

In their multiplicity, the beards, the black coats, the hats, the long dresses and scarves become akin to masks or costumes, rendering the individual intangible. It is the hidden mannerism and idiosyncrasies of human nature/bodies that I sought to excavate in a recent series of drawings:

Bashoy (Marriott Matchmaking), 2009 (Digitally displayed watercolors, 1:15 min. loop)

The Bashoy is the first stage of the intricate process of marriage in the Hassid community. It often marks the first time that a young couple lays eyes on each other; it is also often the first time that either of them has been alone with someone of the opposite sex who isn’t a member of their immediate family.

This series of drawings was inspired by a couple whose “first date” I witnessed at the Brooklyn Marriott. While the incongruity of the situation was unsettling, I could not help but be touched by the awkward silences, nervous tics and polite smiles that offered a human glance at a community usually so remote and mysterious to the outsider.