Nir Arieli

We were delighted to speak to Nir Arieli, the super talented, Tel Aviv born and Brooklyn based, portrait and dance photographer. Nir, who started his career as a military photographer, has exhibited widely and his has work appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Daily Telegraph, TimeOut and Haaretz.
He has the ability to capture the emotions, passion, and strength of his subjects expressed beautifully through dance. In his piece featured in Chromatica , “Flocks” Nir explores the relationship between a team of similarly passionate and talented artists and a herd designated by nature and circumstance.

Wellcome to Chromatica Magazine, thank you for joining us, How are you? how are you coping with the pandemic?

I'm well, but this year has been challenging for me, as it was for everyone. I'm in Brooklyn (NY) and have to admit that all the free time the pandemic had generated didn't lead to creation. My work has to do with physical intimacy and that's challenging right now. I'm mostly focused on commercial work, and thinking a lot about new creative possibilities.

At what age did you discover your passion for photography?

I think I felt from childhood that I want to do something creative in life. My teen years were dedicated to figuring out my medium, I went through short phases of experimenting and mostly failing or getting bored with several mediums until I started photographing around 17 years old. At first, I was shooting and developing B&W film which was quite frustrating, but when I got my first point and shoot digital camera, my progress turned to be much quicker and I loved it. I could analyze immediately what's wrong and try again. Until this day I feel very comfortable with the digital workflow, despite the respect that I have today for the sensibility, quality, and slow process of film.

What are your main influences? Which artists have informed your art?

It's hard to say. I've always had a terrible memory for art history although I studied it in high school and college. I like to think that my main inspiration comes from dance and dancers. Dancers, and particularly male dancers, have been the focus of my work for years and I learned to love and understand the complexities of this art form while shaping my own style of what I like. Some dancers that inspire me I tend to get back to for different projects, and some choreographers teach me about athletics and styles. To drop some names, I love contemporary powerful female choreographers such as Sharon Eyal, Crystal Pite and Aszure Barton.

Can you please describe your aesthetic and style of work?

I have a phrase that I came up with several years ago and still resonates. I'm an admirer of "gentleness, beauty that embodies a sense of conflict and physical intelligence". These three ideas describe what draws me to making work and I hope is reflected in the aesthetic. I work a lot with moving and exposed bodies but also with still bodies and the idea of "being exposed" and vulnerable, in the form of portraits.

My style of work involves not planning or sketching too much in advance (at the most, I would write some notes with short ideas), using mostly natural light (which opens the possibility of being different in every space and time) and inviting models/dancers that I think are physically intelligent and can be partners in the creative process.

What inspires you? What are you trying to convey through your images?Intelligent moving inspires me, unique faces, an ability to take abstract directions and covert them into body positioning and moods. It's important to me to make work that challenges classic gender norms and bring to the front of the stage the community of dancers, not only as professionals but exploring both their interior and exterior worlds. I believe art history didn't pay too much attention to this really unique and interesting community.

What attracts you in working with dancers?Dancers are like something out-of-this-world for me. They have a strict lifestyle that requires endless dedication, sacrificing your body, failing and getting injured constantly, and all of that is in order to be an artist. There isn't usually big wealth or fame at the end of their road. It's an intense journey in which your artistic tool is your body, and I find it admirable and fascinating. Dancers live very intimately with each other, they are required to perform emotions like actors but everything is much more physical. I find interest in how their bodies are shaped and how their personalities are formed. What masculinity means in the dance world and how the rest of society can learn from them and break barriers and old habits and norms we kept from hundreds of years ago.

How complicated was it to orchestrate the Flocks project? (Stories, anectodes, behind the scenes, moments etc)It was the most complicated production I've dealt with. I had to negotiate with each company in return for their valuable and precious dancers' time. I made sure that I can give something to the company's own use. It was interesting to see how some companies had their dancers' best interest, some had the brand and management... In one case, I managed to get access to a very well-known Canadian company. I traveled all the way there and the director and choreographer demanded to approve the final shot. I agreed because I really wanted these dancers in the project, and because all the company directors loved the shots and were proud of them. The director also demanded some of the limited edition of the final work. When I showed up in the studio the director gave me some instructions on how she'd like my work to be created, she also wanted the dancers to smile in the shot. I was already there so I promised to try even though it was really not the style of my work. The dancers were incredible and I got some beautiful shots, but the director refused to approve them, and till that day I am not allowed to show it to anyone. It's really a shame cause the shots were gorgeous.

At one time I realized one of my dream company's was in Greece at the same time I was scheduled to teach there. I was able to take a day and a half off, but then realized they are in the other side of the country. I took an 8 hours bus from the north's mountains to the south, shot them the next morning, sat on the beautiful Kalamata beach for an hour and immediately headed to the 8 hours bus ride back.

Having achieved so much already, what has been the biggest highlight of your career and what are your plans for the future?I think when I was offered my first gallery show it was a big moment for me, since in school none of my professors thought I was "fine art" material. Everyone believed that I'll end up as a commercial photographer (which is not far from the truth), and I believed that as well, but I did my best to create work that was meaningful and worthy of being "art". My second show was also a big deal cause it proved that the first time wasn't a coincidence. Aside from those, I am proud every time I get hired to do things that are similar to my personal fine-art work for organizations that do good in the world. I had two big projects like that in the last few years. One was a collaboration of Estee Lauder and Time Out Tel Aviv and benefited an organization in Israel that supports women who were victims of financial violence, and the other was a project for Volunteers of America, helping communities who suffer moral injuries, and was featured about a year ago on Time Square's screens in NYC. For the future, I hope to continue making personal independent work alongside partnering with dance companies and organizations that are bringing beauty and good to the world.

For more info and updates visit nirarieli.com .

You can follow Nir on Instagram @niralieli