Michał CAŁA (ur. 1948)

Man at the Foot of a Slag Heap from the Silesia 1975-1992 series

1978/1979
gelatin-silver print, 47 x 32.5 cm,
signed, dated, described and artist’s stamp on the reverse
vintage print

As the series is described in Cała’s monograph Silesia and Galicia (Museum of the History of Photography, 2015), "The monumental and austere beauty of the industrial scenery: mine slag heaps, the cracked earth, the reflections in the pools, the smoking chimneys, the brick walls of miner’s houses [...] The artist captured the time when the industrial heritage of the 19th century still prevailed. The old plants were running at full steam. The world ‘congealed.’ Today, decades after the pictures were taken, they have already acquired documentary qualities."
The series has been widely exhibited in Poland and abroad.
Publications: Polish Photography of the 20th Century (ZPAF, 2007), Silesia (Zderzak Gallery, 2006), Silesia and Galicia (Museum of the History of Photography, 2015), and journals: Foto, Fotografia, British Journal of Photography.