║ Michal Chelbin ║

© Michal Chelbin, Angelina with her Father, Israel, 2005
from the Strangely Familiar series

“The images in this series are an attempt to capture human stories in everyday life, those that exist in the space between the odd and the ordinary. My images are almost always of people and they usually take the form of portraits. Most of the people I photograph have something in common; they are not the mainstream, and many of them are small town performers (For example, they could be dwarfs in a theatre play, ball room dancers or young contortionists). I try to photograph my subjects dislocated from their performing environment and set in casual settings, off stage: at home, on the street or in a park. Some of them with their costumes and others wear everyday cloths. I try to create a seemingly private moment, one where they are not performing or on stage. The main themes in my work are not social or topical, but private and mythical; I search for people who have a legendary quality in them; a mix between odd and ordinary. My images are vehicles to address universal themes: family issues, ideas of normality, puberty with its all incumbent pains and distractions, the desire for fame.”
Michal Chelbin