As part of the Eye on the Strand series, photographer Michal Chelbin will be at Strand Bookstore discussing her first monograph Strangely Familiar: Acrobats, Athletes and other Traveling Troupes, published by Aperture. Her images feature richly detailed, internally charged portraits of small town performers in circuses and other traveling troupes taken over a period of six years in the Ukraine, Russia, Israel and England. Chelbin’s most frequent subjects are children and adolescents, yet her work encompasses a mix of generations. Often captured in performance costumes, Chelbin’s palette is intense, with a distinctive use of saturated pinks, blues, and greens. Her black-and-white images, which are intermingled throughout the book, have an almost pictorialist richness.

Click here to buy a limited edition print from Michal Chelbin’s Strangely Familiar through Aperture.

Eye on the Strand Event with Michal Chelbin
Thursday, January 29, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Strand Bookstore
828 Broadway, New York
(212) 473-1452

Eye on the Strand is a photography contest co-organized by Strand Bookstore, Aperture and Pratt Institute and is open to amateur and professional photographers to submit photo representations of the famous Strand bookstore by February 27, 2009. There will be 24 winners chosen by a prestigious jury. Prizes include an afternoon with internationally renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark; 50 Aperture photography books; a group exhibit at Pratt CCPS gallery; a digital photography or computer graphics course at Pratt CCPS; a $350 B&H photo gift card.

The next Eye on the Strand event is a talk with photographer Hank Willis Thomas on Tuesday, February 10.

Tags: Eye on the Strand, Michal Chelbin, Strand Bookstore, Strangely Familiar

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 6:01 pm and is filed under Events & Exhibitions, Limited-Edition Photographs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.