In a moment frozen in time, a woman in a white hijab raises her hand in an unknown gesture. Behind her members of a crowd pass; the camera gives them no focus. In Bruxelles 05, Beat Streuli captures the individual woman as she is unaware, en masse on the streets. This style is typical of his photography in which the identity of his subjects is often ignored. The woman’s veiled appearance becomes the central focus of the image highlighting her otherness, her decision to adapt a traditional custom in an otherwise cosmopolitan Brussels. Although she is a nameless stranger in a crowd of many, her identity and individuality manifests itself in this choice.
The woman is caught unaware, glancing to the side. In many respects, she is just as oblivious of the photographer, while we are situated in the place of the voyeur—our gaze fueled by our need to stare at that which we don’t immediately understand.