Poland
Michał Szlaga
exhibition
Poland
Michał Szlaga
10.02 – 09.04.2017
Curator: Krzysztof Miękus
Partner:
Exhibition opening: February 10, 2017, 7:30 PM
Admission fee: free
Curatorial text
The Poland exhibition is a result of over 15 years of work by photographer Michał Szlaga. These are thousands of pictures which form a peculiar diary of the photographer’s journeys across Poland. Szlaga lives in Gdańsk, but he is constantly on the go – this is what his profession requires. He is an expert in organising such trips: he knows the menu on the trains by heart, he knows where and when roadside prostitutes can be found, and what position to take in a long-distance coach in order to get at least a nap after a sleepless night.
He always travels with his amateur, mini analogue Olympus mju II, a camera which – despite its simplicity, low price and limited durability – has already gained a status of an icon among photographers. It’s discreet, unobtrusive, very small and, above all, not at all “serious,” which makes approaching people closely remarkably easier. In his project Poland Szlaga is, undoubtedly, quite a nosy peeping Tom, who catches its subjects in the least expected moments. However, he is not interested in ridiculing people. Instead, he seeks to find some universal emotions in their gestures and faces.
The pictures for the Poland series were taken as if “by chance” – they are always quick shots spotted on the way, during unexpected and unintended meetings – spontaneous frames of reality. Despite its intentional randomness and fragmentation, the whole project is aesthetically coherent, as it is – leaving aside its documentary layer – a result of searching by the photographer of the beauty in banality: such as an ephemeral rainbow spotted over a washbasin in the local Polish train, a line of red lights on a jammed street seen from an overpass, or landscapes pictured at dawn.
Michał Szlaga observes Poland from trains, cars or as a passer-by – he seldom takes on the role of a participant of events. And yet, he almost always manages to come close to whatever he finds interesting. This is a sweet’n’sour Poland: folksy and cheesy, but at the same time auto-ironic or immersed in contemplative meditation.
Michał Szlaga – born 1978, a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, made his debut with a series of staged self-portraits with the common title What Made Me? (2002), in which he appears in such historical roles as a Nazi, a Jew, a Catholic priest, a member of the communist Citizen’s Militia, and a Red Army soldier. Following his graduation, he has systematically documented Polish reality using the convention of blog photography (Reality, 2007) and documentary typology (Prostitutes, 2010).
Since 2000, he has returned obsessively in his work to the subject of the Gdańsk shipyards, regarded as the place of the birth, rise and fall of the Solidarity (Solidarność) labour movement and an example of a once great, prospering shipbuilding industry, the remains of which should today be saved in photographs. For Szlaga, the shipyard is a constantly changing post-industrial architectural landscape; a landscape he documents using photography and video. Collaboration with the Wyspa Institute of Art located on the premises of the Gdańsk shipyard permitted the photographer to present his works in important contemporary art exhibitions (Dock Guardians, 2005; Again and Again 1989–2009, 2009). For the last few years the majority of the artist’s photographs appearing in galleries have been connected with the shipyard, including portraits of leaders of the Solidarity opposition movement (among others, Anna Walentynowicz, Tadeusz Mazowiecki).
Offer of works for sale
All photographs shown at the exhibition are available for sale. The full presentation, including dimensions, editions, techniques and prices, can be viewed and downloaded here
For more information please contact us: biuro@fiff.org.pl
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