Rachel Papo

Rachel Papo (American-Israeli, b. 1970) Batyr Backstage 2007 C-print 10 3/4 x 13 3/4 inch image on 11 x 14 inch paper Signed edition of 50 Rachel Papo’s series Desperately Perfectdocuments adolescents, ages ten to eighteen, from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia, who practice twelve hours a day; six days a week; on the barre or in a classroom. As Papo has stated, the “project is a look into the lives of a group of adolescents who, in their hope for a better, wider life, spend the majority of their youth in fierce competition. Based on my own memories of being a ballet student for nine years of my childhood and never being the best in class, these images emphasize the emotional side of these children's uncompromising reality. They stretch their bodies further every day, desperate to stand out, while constantly being encouraged by their instructors to be uniform — identical to one another. Engaged in endless repetition of physical phrases, these students obsessively