honorable mention
Rafał Michalak poland
title
Heat Wave
all that to think not of things that may not be.'
– Magdalena Bielecka
The Heat Wave is a visual diary recording spontaneous events that took place in August and September 2014. But it was an emotional relationship between the photographer and the authoress of the poem, that became an immediate inspiration for this project.
The essence of this series of photography is balancing at the edge of the real and the unreal. Where fiction entwines with reality, roles get often interchanged and so we perceive as imaginary what is in fact real, whereas dreamt up events we accept as authenticity. But it was not the photographer’s intention to concentrate on this pretended antinomy. He leaves the viewers with freedom of interpretation, rather than providing them with an unequivocal answer to all considerations.
Situations presented in The Heat Wave cannot be indisputably defined as events, that actually took place. But one cannot deny their realism, if only because of the documentary or quasi-documentary nature of the photographs. The excerpt of Magdalena Bielecka’s poem: of things that may not be is a simultaneous denial and doubt, but it is certainly not a declared negation of what is to come.
Project page: http://rafalmichalak.com/?page_id=3522
Lives and works in Wroclaw, Poland. He studied political science and public relations. Graduate of Academy of Art and Design in Wroclaw with a Master of Arts (Media Art Department). A member of The Association of Polish Art Photographers (ZPAF).
He has been associated with the advertising industry and commercial photography for years. In his everyday work he deals with brand communication issues as well as visual identity development for companies and corporations. At the same time, he is actively engaged in creating his own original photography, thereafter presented in exhibitions and published in trade magazines. Winner of many photographic praises and commendations.
Human being as individuality and its place in the so fast altering world are the key factors of Michalak’s photographic research. In his photography he is mostly consumed with transgression understood as a conscious and intentional exceeding of bounds and limits that we impose on ourselves or encounter. At the same time, it provides a way to learn more about the hidden depths and makes it possible to experience reality from different points of view. Transgressive approach has characterised Michalak’s personal style of representation, regardless of used technique and medium, ever since he knowingly engaged in fine-art photography. Transgression determines his personal choices in terms of subjects he approaches, and even more so, the message, i.e. the idea behind a photograph, which he believes to be essential.
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entry description
'One can waste their soul on drinking,all that to think not of things that may not be.'
– Magdalena Bielecka
The Heat Wave is a visual diary recording spontaneous events that took place in August and September 2014. But it was an emotional relationship between the photographer and the authoress of the poem, that became an immediate inspiration for this project.
The essence of this series of photography is balancing at the edge of the real and the unreal. Where fiction entwines with reality, roles get often interchanged and so we perceive as imaginary what is in fact real, whereas dreamt up events we accept as authenticity. But it was not the photographer’s intention to concentrate on this pretended antinomy. He leaves the viewers with freedom of interpretation, rather than providing them with an unequivocal answer to all considerations.
Situations presented in The Heat Wave cannot be indisputably defined as events, that actually took place. But one cannot deny their realism, if only because of the documentary or quasi-documentary nature of the photographs. The excerpt of Magdalena Bielecka’s poem: of things that may not be is a simultaneous denial and doubt, but it is certainly not a declared negation of what is to come.
Project page: http://rafalmichalak.com/?page_id=3522
about the photographer
Rafal Michalak, b. 1971.Lives and works in Wroclaw, Poland. He studied political science and public relations. Graduate of Academy of Art and Design in Wroclaw with a Master of Arts (Media Art Department). A member of The Association of Polish Art Photographers (ZPAF).
He has been associated with the advertising industry and commercial photography for years. In his everyday work he deals with brand communication issues as well as visual identity development for companies and corporations. At the same time, he is actively engaged in creating his own original photography, thereafter presented in exhibitions and published in trade magazines. Winner of many photographic praises and commendations.
Human being as individuality and its place in the so fast altering world are the key factors of Michalak’s photographic research. In his photography he is mostly consumed with transgression understood as a conscious and intentional exceeding of bounds and limits that we impose on ourselves or encounter. At the same time, it provides a way to learn more about the hidden depths and makes it possible to experience reality from different points of view. Transgressive approach has characterised Michalak’s personal style of representation, regardless of used technique and medium, ever since he knowingly engaged in fine-art photography. Transgression determines his personal choices in terms of subjects he approaches, and even more so, the message, i.e. the idea behind a photograph, which he believes to be essential.
back to gallery