Michal Chelbin

Michal Chelbin (Hebrew: מיכל חלבין; born 1974) is an Israeli photographer.^[1][2] Her work is held in the collections of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel; Metropolitan Museum, New York; LACMA; Getty Center, LA; and the Jewish Museum, New York.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Early life

Chelbin was born and raised in Israel. She started photography at the age of 14. After high school, she served as a photographer in the Israel Defense Force spokesman unit for two years.^[8]

Career

Chelbin studied photography at WIZO academy of design and education in Haifa from 1997 to 2001.^[1][9]

In 2005 she had a solo exhibition, The Chapels, at Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel.^[10]

In 2007 Chelbin first exhibited her project Strangely Familiar at Blue Sky Gallery, Portland.^[11] The project focused on performers from small towns in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, England, and Israel,^[11] and in 2008 it received the Constantiner Award for Photography from Tel Aviv Museum of Contemporary Art, Tel-Aviv.^[12] In the same year, Chelbin exhibited a solo exhibition under the same name at Tel Aviv Museum of Art.^[12] This project was also published as the book Strangely Familiar.^[13][12][14]

The Black Eye (2010) Chelbin continues Chelbin's interest in athletics as a photography subject.^[15][14][16] In Sailboats and Swans (2012) she made portraits inside prison facilities in Russia and Ukraine.^[17] With How to Dance The Waltz (2021) she focused on military boarding schools, matador training academies, and teenagers in Ukraine preparing for their proms.^[18]

Chelbin has participated in group shows in The Getty Center, Los Angeles,^[19] The Jewish Museum, New York,^[7] and the National Portrait Gallery, London.^[20]

She collaborated with fashion brand Dior Homme in 2016.^[21][9] She is a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine,^[22] The New Yorker,^[23] GQ,^[24] and the Financial Times.^[25]

Chelbin cites Vermeer, Caravaggio, Velázquez, Diane Arbus, and August Sander as some of her biggest influences.^[1]

Publications

• Strangely Familiar: Acrobats, Athletes and other Traveling Troupes (Aperture, 2008)
• The Black Eye (Twin Palms, 2010)^[15]
• Sailboats and Swans (Twin Palms, 2012)
• How to Dance the Waltz (Damiani, 2021)^[26][27]

Solo exhibitions

• 2005 The Chapels, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya^[10]
• 2008 Strangely Familiar, Tel Aviv Museum of Art^[12]
• 2013 Sailboats and Swans, Hellenic Center for Photography, Athens, Greece^[2]
• 2021 How to Dance the Waltz, ClampArt, New York City^[28]

Collections

Chelbin's work is held in the following permanent collections:

• Metropolitan Museum, New York^[4]
• LACMA, LA^[5]
• Portland Museum of Art^[29]
• San Francisco Moma^[30]
• The Kadist Art Foundation, Paris^[31]
• Getty Center, LA^[6]
• Jewish Museum, New York^[7]
• Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel^[3]

Awards

• 2002 America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship^[30]
• 2003 Artist in Residence, Hammeau des Artistes, Paris^[30]
• 2007: Constantiner Award for Photography –Tel Aviv^[12]
• 2009: Shortlisted, Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, London^[32][33]