Rafał Milach

Milach was born in 1978 in Gliwice, Poland. 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. 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. 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. 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. Milach spent two years in Belarus from 2011 exploring its dire economic and political situation. 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. 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. and as of 2022 is an associate member. He co-founded the Archive of Public Protests in 2019. He lectures in photography at the ITF. ==Personal life==

He is married to Ania Nałęcka-Milach. ==Publications==

Publications by Milach • 7 Rooms. With texts by Svetlana Alexievich. • First edition. Heidelberg, Germany: Kehrer, 2011. . • Second edition. Heidelberg, Germany: Kehrer, 2013. • Black Sea of Concrete. Warsaw: [Rafał Milach], 2013. Photographs and text (in English). Edition of 300 copies. . • The Winners. • First edition. London: Gost, 2014. . Edition of 553 copies (500 copies of the regular edition, 53 copies of the special edition). • Second edition. London: Gost, 2014. . Edition of 200 copies. • The First March of Gentlemen. Collages and photographs by Milach, archival images by Ryszard Szczepaniak, text by , Milach, and Karol Szymkowiak. • First edition. Kolekcja Wrzesińska, 2017. • Second edition. London: Gost, 2018. . Edition of 650 copies. • Nearly Every Rose On The Barriers In Front Of The Parliament. Warsaw: Jednostka Gallery, 2018. Polish-language edition; ; edition of 300 copies. English-language edition; ; edition of 200 copies. • I Am Warning You. London: Gost, 2021. . With essays by Michael Dear, Antje Rávic Strubel and Ziemowit Szczerek. Boxed set of four books, #13767, I Am Warning You, Death Strip and collected essays. • Strajk / Strike. Jednostka Gallery, 2021. . With essays by , Karolina Gembara, and Aleksandra Boćkowska. Zines by Milach • Pressident. Galeria Szara, 2017. . 5 posters. Edition of 350 copies. Publications paired with others • In the Car with R: 29 Notes on Photography, Iceland and More. Gliwice: Museum in Gliwice, 2011. . "Project manager: Maga Sokalska / Czytelnia Sztuki". Photographs by Milach, text (an English translation of Með R í bílnum) by . Edition of 450 copies. • W samochodzie z R.: 29 uwag o fotografii, Islandii i nie tylko. Gliwice: Muzeum w Gliwicach, 2011. . Photography by Jan Brykczyński, Michał Łuczak, Milach (from the series In the Car with R), and Agnieszka Rayss; text in English by Kristín Heiða Kristinsdóttir, Sindri Freysson, Hermann Stefánsson, Sigurbjörg Þrastardóttir and . • Stand By = Ӡа Беларусь. Warsaw: Sputnik Photos, 2012. . Photographs of Belarus by Jan Brykczyński, Andrei Liankevich, Manca Juvan, Milach (from the series The Winners), Justyna Mielnikiewicz, Adam Pańczuk and Agnieszka Rayss. With text by Victor Martinovich in English and Belarusian. Edition of 1000 copies. • Distant Place. Warsaw: Copernicus Science Centre, 2012. . 5 books in soft cover, newspaper. • Contact sheets. The Selected Photos. Vol II. Postcart, 2014. . Edited by Giammaria DE Gasperis. With a foreword by Elisabeth Biondi. • Psopplaainnd. Mapping the Blind Spots. Warsaw: Sputnik Photos; Madrid: Nophoto, 2014. . • Lost Territories Wordbook. Lost Territories Archive 1. Warsaw: Sputnik Photos, 2016. Photographs by various. Nearly one hundred short texts from twenty-one authors. • Fruit Garden. Lost Territories Archive 3. Warsaw: Sputnik Photos, 2017. . Photographs by Andrej Balco, Jan Brykczyński, Andrei Liankevich, Michał Łuczak, Milach, Adam Pańczuk and Agnieszka Rayss; texts in English by Stefan Lorenzutti and ; edited by Milach. Edition of 500 copies. ==Awards==

• 2009: Winner, first prize stories, Arts and Entertainment, World Press Photo 2008, Amsterdam • 2019: Light Work Artist Residency, Syracuse NY. • 2023: Winner, Dr. Erich Salomon Award from the German Society for Photography ==Exhibitions==

• 7 Rooms, Brandts Museum of Photographic Art, Brandts, Odense, Denmark, 2013–2014 • Refusal, Atlas Sztuki Gallery, Łódź, Poland, 2017. • The Winners, Side Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, 2018 • Refusal, Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, The Photographers' Gallery, London, 2018 • 7 Rooms, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland 2012 ==Notes==