ABOUT

In her sympathetic pictures of performers from small towns in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, England, and Israel, Michal Chelbin offers a glimpse into worlds both strange and familiar. The settings, costumes, and subjects themselves may seem exotic, but her portraits capture a transcendent sense of individual character.

Chelbin's most frequent subjects are children and adolescents, yet her work encompasses a mix of generations. As Leah Ollman notes, "The atmosphere falls somewhere between public and private. There's a slight titillation of having personal access to performers who, typically, are experienced only remotely. Most immediate, though, are the visual contrasts between young and old, large and small, innocence and experience."