Michal Chelbin December 8, 2008
Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Russia.Tags: Russia
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Xenia in the Playground, Russia 2003
Michal Chelbin (b.1974, Israel) is currently based in New York City. She has been shown in solo and group exhibits in the US and Europe, most recently at the Andrea Meislin Gallery in New York. Her recent publications include Art Forum, American Photo, PDN , New York Arts Magazine, Aperture, B&W Magazine, and the LA Times. Her editorial work has been published in the New York Times, The New Yorker and New York Magazine. Michal’s monograph entitled “Strangely Familiar: Acrobats, Athletes and other traveling troupes” was published in April 2008 by Aperture. Her next monograph will be published by Twin Palms in fall 2009.
About the Photograph:
Like with other subjects I worked a lot with this girl, . She was one of those people who didn’t need any instructions in front of the camera. She didn’t understand Hebrew and I didn’t speak Russian but I felt we understood each other perfectly It was the first color image of this series. I actually shot it in black and white but when we finished, and started to go back to the apartment something didn’t feel right. So I returned, made the whole thing again, this time in color. It’s entitled “Xenia on the Playground”, and I’d like to think of my playground as somewhere between the private and the public, between fiction and documentary.
Whether the comments for this shot be in Hebrew, Russian, or English, I can not find the words to describe it. Only that it is an amazing shot and I really liked it. The people in the background almost look like posters.