Benyamin Reich's "Black Stars"
© Benyamin Reich + ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE, Berlin
In Benyamin Reich’s series Black Stars, Reich frames incongruities he recognizes in the ultra-Orthodox world of his youth. At its foundation, the series itself is incongruous with a core tenet of Judaism which shies away from aesthetics. Within the faith itself, aniconism — the absence of material representations of God — is observed. And, further, within ultra-Orthodox practice, published images of women are forbidden, and modest dress is preferred. Reich cites this aversion to aesthetics as a source of discomfort with his religion growing up. In an article with Tablet Magazine he explains: “I think I was always ashamed of my religion, which is closed and afraid of aesthetics.” However, this is only one paradox of his work. Throughout “Black Stars,” Reich considers tensions in the ultra-Orthodox Bnei Brak community — ones often rooted in strict expectations of sexuality and gender separation.
© Benyamin Reich + ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE, Berlin
Entrenched within ultra-Orthodox practice is a strict separation between men and women. Boys and girls grow up separately. They dress differently, go to separate schools, are taught different curricula, and are expected to assume opposite roles in their adult life. There is very little interaction between men and women until the evening of their weddings. Even during the engagement process, the potential bride and groom seldom cross paths, save for a perfunctory meeting. In one image from Black Stars, Reich frames the tensions between newly asserted intimacy between genders in a picture of a newlywed couple. He describes the scene: “I took a picture of a newly married couple. I asked to photograph them on the same bed and for her to put her hand on his. They were very young, and it seemed right at the time even though I wondered if I had the right to push them to do this. They are proud and show no conflict, but we see they are enclosed in their tradition. Above them is the window, dark at night like a prison, and we see in the picture something that will break.” In Black Stars, Reich strokes pre-existing tensions with the ultra-Orthodox community.
© Benyamin Reich + ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE, Berlin
Another image features a nude figure shrouded by a frothy curtain. The figure’s head tilts down, as if to peruse their own body. We are unable to confirm the gender of the figure. Reich deviates from the faith’s profoundly gendered structure, in withholding this figure’s identity. Additionally, by shrouding the character in a sheer fabric, Reich references the deeply developed codes of dress within the ultra-Orthodox community, and the way these codes define how members of the community interact with the world. However, rather than a way to shield the body, fabric in Reich’s image functions in a way that softens the lines of the body, making it nearly erotic.
© Benyamin Reich + ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE, Berlin
Throughout Black Stars, Reich communicates his own ambiguous view on the community he was brought up within. Additionally, he goes further to highlight an ambivalent sense of community within his own conflicted portrayal. Reich explains, “in the end, the radiance of sacrality stays firmly established, yet a strongly ambiguous view on this community emerges. Behind the veneer we find deeply rooted problems: Here, a mother of many kids with a distressed countenance: Is she still fully agreeing with all tenets of tradition? Or maybe she has lost her belief in God and His Torah already long ago and stays in the society only out of lack of a better alternative? And overthere, some youngsters. Some of them may be homosexual. Now they are looking for help — in vain — in a society where irregular sexual desires officially do not exist.” Although the community has evolved to be extremely self-reliant and insular, Reich questions whether the ultra-Orthodox community’s insularity and self-sustenance is truly sustaining all of its members — particularly those who identify as queer or may not be given agency in ultra-Orthodox society.
© Benyamin Reich + ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE, Berlin
You can see more of Benyamin Reich’s works here.
