Kosherface

Fredric Aranda has photographed the likes of HRH Prince Philip and Bill Clinton, but his most recent exhibition breaks away from GQ and Vanity Fair, where his photos so often appear. Titled "Kosherface," the collection of unexpected images focuses on Lubavitcher Jews and gives people a glimpse into the often insular world of Lubavitcher communities. The exhibition opens today at at Theprintspace Gallery in London and will run through Dec. 2nd.

Aranda began taking pictures of Hasidim while he was a student at Oxford and ended up living in the home of a Lubavitcher rabbi. He began taking photos of the rabbi's family, then of family friends, and before he knew it he had photographed some 3,000 rabbis. These images are the foundation of "Kosherface" and you can see some of them on Tablet's website. They include silohuettes, a bride covered for her bedeken ceremony, even a rabbi rowing a boat. The image shown here, of a young hasidic man whose face has been splattered in paint, is from the exhibition announcement on Aranda's website. Of the images that make use of splatter paint, Aranda says: "I always thought it would be fun to experiment with color on what is very monochromatic clothing for the men. It's refreshing to see the hasidic in the context of fashion and beauty photography. I don't want this to be a show just for Jews."