LITAY & ARTHUR (JERUSALEM), ONE SIXTY NINE

Michal Chelbin is an Israeli photographer born in 1974 in Haifa. After her studies at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, she devoted herself to Photography and was soon recognized  for her portraits of individuals from marginalized communities, often exploring themes of identity, gender, and power dynamics. 

VOGUE ITALIA X HED MEYNER

VOGUE ITALIA X HED MEYNER

ALESSANDRO MICHELE for T MAGAZINE X GUCCI

OLA AND DIANA, HOW TO DANCE THE WALTZ

NIKITA & NASTYA, THE PROM

Between fact and fiction, Michal’s work attempts to exist in the space between the odd and the ordinary. Her focus on young adolescents perfectly encapsulates this transitory place, a playground where childhood is both lived and left behind, “a life full of contradictions”. She is always looking, drawing what is hidden to the surface.

NATASHA, STRANGELY FAMILIAR

ALONA , STRANGELY FAMILIAR

T MAGAZINE X GUCCI

INTERVIEW MAGAZINE

Her haunting and intimate portraits invite viewers to contemplate the complexities of human experience and the power of image-making to shape our understanding of the world around us.

IRA, WOMEN’ S PRISON (UKRAINE)

VANIA, JUVENILE PRISON FOR BOYS (UKRAINE)

VOGUE ITALIA X PIERRE CARDIN

ENYA ON A FAIR CHAIR (UKRAINE), STRANGELY FAMILIAR

“My aim is to record a scene where there is a mixture of direct information and enigmas and in which there are visual contrasts between young and old, large and small, normal and abnormal… For me, the image is just the tip of the iceberg; it’s the gate to a story waiting to be told.”

AHRON GENISH FW24

AHRON GENISH FW24

THE BLACK EYE

DIOR

DIEGO (SPAIN), HOW TO DANCE THE WALTZ

Michal is a regular contributor to The New York Times magazine, The New Yorker, Time magazine, BusinessWeek, GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Financial Times and Le Monde. Her Fashion Photography can be seen in Vogue Italia, Dust, Departures, Encens, CR Fashion Book, Interview and T Magazine

MARGARITA, DEPARTURES

DAYDREAMER, DIOR

DAYDREAMER, DIOR

ELIE AND QUENTIN, DIOR HOMMES

ENCENS MAGAZINE

SHIRA HAAS for CR FASHION BOOK

Her work can be found in private and public collections including The Metropolitan Museum New York, LACMA, Getty Center LA, Jewish Museum New York, Cleveland Museum of Art, Tel Aviv Museum, Sir Elton John collection and SF Moma.

MARINA (UKRAINE)

ALEX WEK for T MAGAZINE

ALEJANDRO (SPAIN), HOW TO DANCE THE WALTZ

VOGUE ITALIA X HED MEYNER

ALICIA (UKRAINE), STRANGELY FAMILIAR

Michal has published four books including STRANGELY FAMILIAR in 2008 and THE BLACK EYE  in 2010. SAILBOATS AND SWANS – Twin Palms Publishers 2012 – Working with her husband and co-producer, Oded Plotnizki, Michal spent three years photographing prisons in Ukraine and Russia. Her work prompts many questions on the nature of guilt, crime, and punishment.

VANIA, MEN’S PRISON (UKRAINE)

MARINA, JUVENILE PRISON FOR GIRLS (UKRAINE)

KATYA, JUVENILE PRISON FOR GIRLS (UKRAINE)

SASHA, JUVENILE PRISON FOR BOYS (UKRAINE)

HOW TO DANCE THE WALTZ – Damiani 2021 –  Shot in Ukraine and Spain, at military boarding schools, matador training centers, and during prom week, it interrogates the connection between uniforms, identity, and gender roles.

BOGDA (UKRAINE), HOW TO DANCE THE WALTZ

THE MATADORS (SPAIN), HOW TO DANCE THE WALTZ

YOUNG CADETS (UKRAINE), HOW TO DANCE THE WALTZ

THREE CADETS (UKRAINE), HOW TO DANCE THE WALTZ

TATYANA AND IRINA (UKRAINE), HOW TO DANCE THE WALTZ

In 2023,  SAILBOATS AND SWANS was exhibited at Clamp NYC and DAYDREAMERS, dedicated to fashion Photography, at Chelouche Gallery. Michal was ranked one of 23 World’s Best Documentary Photographers by the Agents Club and she shot TIME’s cover story in October “The Hostage Nightmare”.