Photographs of Ukrainian and Russian juvenile prisons and
prisoners are some of the most powerful in Michal Chelbin's
exhibit Sailboats and Swans on view fromOctober 18 - December 22,
2012 at Andrea Meislin Gallery in New York City. So many orphaned
children that age out of the orphanage and foster care systems,
without family or support, can become involved in crime. With
24,000 children available for adoption in Ukraine alone, you have
to worry about the difference a Ukrainian child's future when
they are adopted by a loving family.
This is a powerful exhibit by a master. I would probably not
recommend it for young children.
Sailboats and Swans
"Chelbin is always looking, drawing what is hidden to the
surface. She captures-we shudder."A.M. Homes from her essay
inSailboats and Swans
Exhibition:Andrea Meislin Gallery, NYC, 534 West 24th Street,
October 18 - December 22, 2012Publication:Twin Palms Publishers,
featuring 62 full color plates on 120 pages; essay and interview
by acclaimed writerA.M. Homeswith Michal Chelbin and her partner
Oded Plotnizki. Talks and book events TBA. PDF available for
media review now; advance print copies available in
September.Michal Chelbin's latest body of photography, shot in
seven prisons in the Ukraine and Russia over the past six years,
explores what it means to be locked and constantly watched - and
to be looking back at such a person in this surreal world within
a world. Chelbin's portraiture is renowned for it visual
contrasts - old and new, odd and ordinary, fantasy and reality
-and for unmasking the legendary qualities not immediately
apparent in individuals. The title,Sailboats and Swans, refers to
the idiosyncratic, and almost mocking, bucolic and fantastical
murals and wallpaper backgrounds she found throughout the
prisons. These contradictions of life in prison abound in girls'
flowery dress prison uniforms, murderers working as nannies to
other women's babies in the new mothers' prison, young girls
serving time alongside grandmothers - perhaps witness to their
own futures, and the mesmerizing human blend of fear and cruelty
in the boys' and mens' prison - where big tattooed bodies are now
zombie-like, worn down by the daily travails of trying to survive
being locked up in a world devoid of hope.For the past decade,
Michal Chelbin has been traveling to shoot in the Ukraine and
Russia, the countries of her ancestors, drawn to the extreme
contrasts and mythological qualities. Through the connections she
made, she gained incredibly rare access to create portraits of
the prisoners. Never asking the crime until after finishing the
portrait allowed the artist to see the individual through her
lens, not the prisoner, in sittings that sometimes lasted for
hours until the mask wore down. "I usually photograph people
outside the mainstream, and I look for faces and eyes that
express the complexities of life and for a gaze that transcends
from the private to the common," stated Chelbin. All of her
projects have been centered on a group who share something in
common -Strangely Familiarfocused on the small town circus
performers,The Black Eyeis comprised of portraits of wrestlers
and athletes, and those locked up are her subjects inSailboats
and Swans.In Chelbin's work there is always a sense of mystery
and multi-dimensional narratives. Nothing is obviously resolved,
and questions linger for the viewer to struggle with as she
does:who is this person? Why is he dressed like this? What does
it mean to be locked? Is it a human act? Is it fair? What do we
see when we look at a locked person? Do we punish him with our
eyes? Does a killer still look like a killer? Is it human to be
weak and murderous at the same time?Michal ChelbinSailboats and
Swanswill be on view from October 18 - December 22, 2012, at
Andrea Meislin Gallery, 534 West 24th Street,
NYC.www.andreameislin.com 917.846.4477
end_of_the_skype_highlightingThe ArtistIsraeli-born and based
artist Michal Chelbin's work is in many prestigious private and
public collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York; The Jewish Museum, New York, The Norton Museum of Art, West
Palm Beach, The Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, The J. Paul Getty
Museum, Los Angeles, The Portland Art Museum and The Tel Aviv
Museum of Art, Israel. Her work has been short-listed for the
Taylor Wessing Portrait Competition at the National Portrait
Gallery in London. She previously had solo shows at Tel Aviv
Museum of Art, Israel and Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York who
represent the artist. In addition toSailboats and Swans, previous
publications includeStrangely FamiliarandThe Black Eye.
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