Opening: 16.01.2024, 5.30PM
Exhibition: 17.01–29.02.2024
Place: SWPS University, Techników 9 St., 40-326 Katowice, Poland
The Very Beautiful Project is described by the artist as ‘more of a sociological project than an artistic one, based on a visual survey’ in which he asks his subjects about beauty in their time time and place, i.e. in contemporary Silesia (the works are created primarily in Ruda Śląska)
Milach avoids sentimentality in his work. Neither one will find the typical photos we are accustomed to in ‘post-industrial photography’, which in its own way mythologizes the past. The Very Beautiful Project does not have a single protagonist, arranging itself into a story about people in certain processes (including the process of transformation of the region). The protagonists are participants and winners of various competitions, people setting themselves various goals and trying to achieve them. The narrative of Milach’s work is built from small stories, details, making the individual stories more personal.
The exhibition is a part of The Day of the Psychology Faculty at the SWPS University in Katowice. Apart from Rafał Milach’s works also selected photography works of Zofia Rydet from her Sociological Record (1978–1990) cycle are exhibited.
More info about the event: SWPS University in Katowice
Rafał Milach, Profesor Jan Ślężyński is a champion in handstand. He performed 201 stands in 27 min at the age of 80,
from the Very Beautiful Project, 2012
Rafał Milach, Miss Poland’s homing pigeon at a pigeon show, 2010, Katowice, from the Very Beautiful Project, 2012