Hasidim of Crown Heights in a new Brooklyn exhibit

An exhibit of photographs by Chie Nishio, an 84-year-old woman of Japanese descent who spent years photographing the Chabad community of Crown Heights, opens this week at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Branch.

The library reports that members of the Hasidic welcomed Ms. Nishio and her camera into their homes and lives in the mid 1990s, enabling her to document the scene from an outsider’s unique and intimate vantage point. Her work especially explores the lives of Crown Heights women and girls.

Ms. Nishio’s “beautiful and welcoming photos are a testament to the lives of these Brooklynites, from prayer to family life, and tell a great story about rituals, humor and strength,” said a library spokesperson. “The exhibition takes on added import this fall, around the 12th anniversary of the death of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.” 

“The exhibit serves not only as a tribute to her career, but also as a reminder of the cross-cultural possibilities afforded by our city,” the spokesperson said.

Throughout her long career and marriage to an American journalist, Ms. Nishio focused her lens on America’s sub-communities, including the Sioux and senior “bench-sitters” of Central Park. She has rarely exhibited her work, however, and has been called the “Emily Dickinson of photography,” brilliant and private. 

The exhibition will run through Feb. 1, during the regular hours of the library, which is located at Grand Army Plaza between Crown Heights and Park Slope.