MICHAL CHELBIN – HOW TO DANCE THE WALTZ

Posted on 2021-04-12

In his preface to the book, Joseph Akel writes: “That pervading sense of contradiction, that eruptive moment when budding youth clashes with burgeoning adulthood, lies at the heart of Chelbin’s images, evinced through her juxtaposition of teenage subjects captured in garments, costumes, and uniforms symbolic of long-standing institutions and their traditions.” The artist has long been fascinated by costumes and uniforms, commenting on how youth is so startlingly apparent – especially when dressed up in the clothes of adulthood. This fascination led Chelbin over the course of five years to photograph young matadors training at schools in Seville, Spain; cadets at a military academy in Ukraine; and high school students on the eve of prom in Kiev (the capital of Ukraine). The artist looks at puberty and gender as a performance that involves keen attention to costumery. The photographs address the ways in which societal expectations of gender, especially in regard to clothing and uniform, inform a young person’s development and identity. With the subjects gazing directly into the artist’s lens, Chelbin’s remarkable portraits simultaneously represent the sitters’ vulnerability and self-possession.

Opposite – Young Matadors in the Bush, Spain, 2018

Exhibition runs through to May 29th, 2021

ClampArt
247 West 29th Street, Ground Floor
New York
NY 10001

clampart.com