Rafał Milach Explained

Rafał Milach (born 1978) is a Polish visual artist and photographer. His work focuses on the tension between society and power structures. Author of protest books and critical publications on state control. He is a full member of Magnum Photos and lectures in photography[1] [2] at the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School at the Silesian University in Katowice

Milach's books include Strike (2021), I Am Warning You (2021), 7 Rooms (2011), In the Car with R (2012), Black Sea of Concrete (2013), The Winners (2014) and The First March of Gentlemen (2017). He is a co-founder of the Archive of Public Protests and Sputnik Photos collectives[3]

In 2008, he won a World Press Photo award.[4] In 2011, 7 Rooms won the Pictures of the Year International Best Photography Book Award.[5] In 2017, his exhibition Refusal was a finalist for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize.[6] His book Strike was named the Author Book Award at the Rencontres Photographiques d'Arles 2022[7] . In 2023, he was awarded the Dr. Erich Salomon Award[8]

Life and work

Milach was born in 1978 in Gliwice, Poland.[9] He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice in 2003 and the Institute of Creative Photography (ITF), Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic.

With ten other Central Eastern European photographers, he co-founded Sputnik Photos, a collective documenting transition in post-Soviet states.[10]

For his first book, 7 Rooms (2011), Milach accompanied and photographed seven young people for several years living in the Russian cities of Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Krasnoyarsk.[11]

In the Car with R (2012) was made on a 10-day road trip, driving 1450 kilometres around Iceland's circular Route 1. Milach made photographs and his local guide, the writer, made diary entries.[12]

Black Sea of Concrete (2013) is about the Ukrainian Black Sea coast, about its people, of whom he made portraits, and the abundant Soviet-era geometric blocks strewn along the coastline.[13]

Milach spent two years in Belarus from 2011 exploring its dire economic and political situation. Belarus is "a country caught between the ultra-traditional values of an older Soviet era and the viral influence of western popular culture." Milach was interested in the clean, tidy glamorous facade maintained by the state. His book The Winners (2014), portraits of winners of various "Best of Belarus" state and local contests promoted by the government, is a typology of state propaganda.[14] [15] [16] It depicts mostly people, but also anonymous interiors that had won awards. The obscure official prizes are intended to foster national pride but to an outside audience might appear tragicomic. Milach travelled around the country working in the role of "an old-fashioned propaganda photographer". He was guided by the authorities as to who, where and how to photograph, a process which only improved his revealing the ideology of the state. Milach has said "the winners are everywhere, but the winnings are not for the winners – they are for the system", "the state is not interested in individuals, only in mass control."

The First March of Gentlemen (2017) was made on a 2016 residency at Kolekcja Września to make work about life in Września.[17] The town is synonymous with the Września children strike, the protests of Polish children and their parents against Germanization that occurred between 1901 and 1904. In 2016, there were many demonstrations by Citizens of Poland, a civic movement engaged in pro-democracy and anti-fascist actions, opposed to the political changes brought about by the government led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party. Milach's book of collages mixes illustrations of the children strike with characters that lived in Września during the communist era in the 1950s and 1960s taken by local amateur photographer Ryszard Szczepaniak. This "delineates a fictitious narrative that can be read as a metaphor, commenting on the social and political tensions of the present day."

Milach became a nominee member of Magnum Photos in 2018[18] [19] and as of 2022 is an associate member.[20] He co-founded the Archive of Public Protests in 2019.[21] [22] He lectures in photography[1] [2] at the ITF.

Personal life

He is married to Ania Nałęcka-Milach.

Publications

Publications by Milach

Zines by Milach

Publications paired with others

Publications with contributions by Milach

Awards

Exhibitions

Notes

  1. Web site: Sean. Sheehan. 2018-04-30. The Winners - Photographs by Rafal Milach. LensCulture.
  2. Web site: Sean. O'Hagan. Sean O'Hagan. 2018-04-30. The best of Belarus: meet Miss Railway and the nation's winning welder. 11 May 2014. The Guardian.
  3. News: Claire. Marie Healy. 2018-04-30. How to become a propaganda photographer in Belarus. Dazed. 9 June 2014.
  4. News: 2018-04-30. 2008 Rafal Milach AES1-AI. World Press Photo.
  5. Web site: 2018-04-30. Winner: Best Photography Book Award. Pictures of the Year International.
  6. News: 2018-04-30. Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2018: shortlist announced. Creative Review. 29 November 2017.
  7. Web site: d'Arles . Les Rencontres . THE 2022 BOOK AWARDS . 2024-08-02 . www.rencontres-arles.com.
  8. Web site: 2023-10-28 . Photographer couple Ute and Werner Mahler honored . 2023-10-29 . Time News . en-US.
  9. News: 2018-05-01. Rafał Milach. Culture.pl.
  10. News: Anastasiia. Fedorova. 2018-04-30. Outside in: how foreign photographers see the post-Soviet world. The Guardian. 22 December 2014. 0261-3077.
  11. News: Rafal Milach . LensCulture. 2018-04-30. 7 Rooms. LensCulture.
  12. News: Rafal Milach . LensCulture. 2018-04-30. In the Car with R - Photographs by Rafal Milach. LensCulture.
  13. News: Greg. Andruszczenko. 2018-04-30. Black Sea of Concrete.
  14. News: 2018-04-30. Photographer Creates Surreal Propaganda For Europe's Last Communist Dictatorship. HuffPost UK. 16 June 2014.
  15. News: 2018-04-30. The Best Milkmaid, and Other Winners of Belarus' Strangest Contests. Slate. 29 May 2014. 1091-2339.
  16. News: 2018-04-30. These Are the Model Citizens of Europe's Last Dictatorship. Wired.
  17. Web site: 2018-05-01. Rafal Milach celebrates people power in The First March of Gentlemen. Izabela. Radwanska Zhang. British Journal of Photography.
  18. Web site: 2018-06-29. Magnum Photos' international new wave of Nominees – British Journal of Photography. British Journal of Photography.
  19. Web site: 2018-06-29. Updates from the 2018 Magnum Photos Annual General Meeting. Magnum Photos. 26 June 2018.
  20. Web site: 2022-01-22. Rafal Milach . Magnum Photos.
  21. Web site: 2022-01-10. Archiwum Protestów Publicznych (Archive of Public Protests). 25 January 2021. GUP Magazine.
  22. Web site: 2022-01-10. The Archive of Public Protests documents the growing protest movements in Poland and celebrates their creativity. British Journal of Photography.
  23. Web site: 2022-01-24. The Winners - Rafał Milach. Culture.pl.
  24. Web site: Liza. Premiyak. 2022-01-23. We loved these 8 photo books above all others in 2018. Here's why. The Calvert Journal.
  25. Web site: Jörg. Colberg. 2022-01-23. Three Reviews: Faminsky / Southam / Milach. Conscientious Photography Magazine.
  26. Web site: Les Rencontres. d'Arles. 2022-01-23. Shortlisted 2019 Book Awards. Rencontres d'Arles.
  27. Web site: Lauren Moya. Ford. 2021-12-31. The Disruptive Architecture of Border Walls. 20 September 2021. Hyperallergic.
  28. Web site: 2021-12-31. Rafal Milach's book triptych interrogates three border walls and the architecture of propaganda. British Journal of Photography.
  29. Web site: 2022-01-10. Strike / Strajk by Rafal Milach. Tipi Photo Bookshop.
  30. The English- and Polish-language editions of In the Car with R share one ISBN.
  31. Web site: 2018-05-01. Book / Is(not) / Regular Edition. www.sputnikphotos.com.
  32. News: 2018-04-30. Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2018. The Photographers' Gallery. 27 November 2017.
  33. News: Deutsche Börse Photography. Foundation. 2018-04-30. Deutsche Börse photography prize shortlist 2018 – in pictures. The Guardian. 1 December 2017. 0261-3077.
  34. Web site: 2018-04-30. Shortlist announced for 2018 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize – British Journal of Photography. British Journal of Photography.
  35. Announcing the 2019 Light Work Artists-in-Residence . 30 December 2021 . Light Work . 13 September 2018.
  36. News: 2018-04-30. Milach's 7 Rooms Open in Denmark. Culture.pl.
  37. Web site: 2018-05-01. Atlas Sztuki / Rafał Milach. www.atlassztuki.pl.
  38. News: 2018-05-01. Refusal by Rafał Milach – Image Gallery. Culture.pl.
  39. News: 2018-04-30. Rafal Milach: The Winners - Amber. Amber.
  40. News: 2018-04-30. How photographers use lies to expose the truth. CNN. 22 March 2018.
  41. Web site: Rafał Milach 7 Rooms - Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki. zacheta.art.pl. en. 2018-05-07.

External links