Paulina, Ukraine, 2005

"I search for people who have a legendary quality about them- a mix between odd and ordinary."

—Michal Chelbin

Paulina is an emotionally and visually striking image, masterfully composed and lit.  In her first monograph, Strangely Familiar: Acrobats, Athletes, and Other Traveling Troupes (Aperture, 2008), Michal Chelbin photographs performers and wrestlers, mostly children and adolescents, from small towns in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, England, and Israel. Often, the sitters are pictured in costume at home or other nearby locations, away from the stage. Chelbin addresses universal themes—family, aspirations to normality, puberty, the desire for fame—all the while offering a glimpse into worlds both strange and familiar.

C-Print
Image Size: 11 x 11 inches
Paper Size: 16 x 20 inches
Edition of 30 + 3 AP
Signed and numbered by the artist

Michal Chelbin (b. 1974, Haifa, Israel) has lived in Brooklyn since 2006. She served as a photographer in the Israel Defense Force spokesman unit for two years in her youth. Chelbin studied photography at WIZO Academy of Design and Education in Haifa from 1997 to 2001. Her work has appeared internationally in group and solo shows in Israel, Los Angeles, New York. Chelbin’s work is held in many private and public collections, such as The Metropolitan Museum, New York; Sir Elton John collection; LACMA, Los Angeles; Getty Center, Los Angeles; The Jewish Museum, New York; Palazzo Forti, Verona, Italy; Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; Tel Aviv Museum of Art; and SF Moma. Her Monograph, Strangely Familiar: Acrobats, Athletes, and Other Traveling Troupes (Aperture, 2008) was awarded PDN’s Photo Annual Book Award in 2009. Michal regularly contributes to the world’s leading magazines, including The New York Times magazine, The New Yorker, BusinessWeek, GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Financial Times, Le Monde, among others.