In her sympathetic pictures of contortionists, dwarves, ballroom dancers and wrestlers from small towns in Israel, Ukraine, Eastern Europe and England, Michal Chelbin offers a glimpse into worlds both strange and familiar. Her subjects--usually individuals on society's margins--tend to be portrayed offstage, at home, on the street or in a park, and in a disarmingly direct engagement with the viewer: "My aim is to record a scene where there is a mixture of direct information and enigmas and in which there are visual contrasts between young and old, large and small, normal and abnormal," she writes. This sense of candid confrontation between subject and camera is particularly disarming when those subjects are prepubescent girls, whose bodies, as Chelbin puts it, "might be still that of a child, [but] their gazes sometimes imply differently." Chelbin's palette is intensely saturated with distinctive pinks, blues and greens, evoking a painterly atmosphere, even occasionally making explicit reference to art history. Though her influences are evident--most notably August Sander and Diane Arbus--the compelling photographs gathered in this first monograph have a unique visual and emotional impact.
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"In her sympathetic and richly detailed portraits Michal Chelbin offers a glimpse into worlds both strange and familiar." --Photo District News
"Far from being purely a collection of oddities Strangely Familiar explores the traveling and performing that make up the lifestyle most of the subjects were born into." --HotShoe
"Pages lit up with intensely close depictions of young 'acrobats, athletes, and other traveling troupes' give gorgeous glimpses into worlds that are exotic and yet almost intimate." -- Kate O'Dowd --Image (Ireland)
"Like a talented painter, Michal Chelbin creates portraits that eloquently speak a language of contrasts--between shadow and highlight, as well as the dark and light sides of life." -- Miki Johnson --American Photo Magazine
"This is one photography book you can't flip through; rather, the images require the viewer to halt and analyze. Each photograph is carefully staged, and its various elements evoke a compelling tension." -- Karen MacMurray --Library Journal
"Far from being purely a collection of oddities Strangely Familiar explores the traveling and performing that make up the lifestyle most of the subjects were born into." --HotShoe
"Pages lit up with intensely close depictions of young 'acrobats, athletes, and other traveling troupes' give gorgeous glimpses into worlds that are exotic and yet almost intimate." -- Kate O'Dowd --Image (Ireland)
"Like a talented painter, Michal Chelbin creates portraits that eloquently speak a language of contrasts--between shadow and highlight, as well as the dark and light sides of life." -- Miki Johnson --American Photo Magazine
"This is one photography book you can't flip through; rather, the images require the viewer to halt and analyze. Each photograph is carefully staged, and its various elements evoke a compelling tension." -- Karen MacMurray --Library Journal
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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended, especially for modern photography libraries,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Strangely Familiar (Hardcover)
STRANGELY FAMILIAR: ACROBATS, ATHLETES AND OTHER TRAVELING TROUPES provides full-page black and white and color photos of troupe members both in group and individually, making for a strong portrait photo pick for both photo libraries and those containing books on social and cultural issues. Chelbin's various approaches to photography are highlighted in an outstanding survey highly recommended, especially for modern photography libraries.
Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch
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