Michał Cała

fot. Waldemar Jama

Michal Cala was born in 1948 in Toruń. Having graduated from Warsaw Polytechnics (Aircraft Construction Department), he moved to Tychy and from 1975 to 1992 he photographed industrial landscapes of the Silesia. As a result of its work arose most important in his activity series of black and white photographs called „Silesia”. He was particularly interested in labourers' housing districts, old ironworks, coal mines and enormous coal heaps . He was also taking pictures of people, who lived in that environment.
Since 1983 he is a member of Union of Polish Art Photographers.
Now he lives in Bielsko-Biala, and still photographs Upper and Lower Silesia.
In 2007 Michal Cala was invited to take part in the exhibition presenting photographs of 100 most important Polish photographers in the 20th century: „Polish Photography in 20th Century” - Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw.

most important activity:

AWARDS

  • 1978 Third place, Pentacon-Orwo competition, East Germany
  • 1979 Grand Prix, Biennale of Polish Landscape, Kielce, Poland
  • 1980 Third place, Pentacon-Orwo competition, East Germany
  • 1983 Grand Prix, Biennale of Polish Landscape, Kielce, Poland
  • 2007 First place, Pilsner International Photo Award, category: special-industrial, Los Angeles, USA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 1984 „Silesia”, Galeria Katowice, Katowice, Poland
  • 1984 „Paysages de Pologne”, Galerie Contraste, Bordeaux, France
  • 1985 „Silesia”, Stara Galeria”(Union of Polish Art Photographers), Warsaw, Poland
  • 1986 „Silesia”, Gallery of Union of Polish Art Photographers, Cracow, Poland
  • 1993 „Galicia”, Galeria B&B, Bielsko-Biala, Poland
  • 2002 „Silesia”, Silesian Museum, Katowice, Poland
  • 2006 „Silesia”, Galeria Zderzak, and „Silesian housing estates”, Gallery of Union of Polish Art Phptographers during Photomonth in Cracow, Poland
  • 2007 „Silesia”, Galeria Ikona during Fotofestival in Lodz, Poland
  • 2009 „Michal Cala – 30 Years of Photography on Silesia”, Stara Galeria”(Union of Polish Art Photographers), Warsaw, Poland
  • 2011 „Lower Silesia”, Galeria Katowice, Katowice, Poland
  • 2012 „Silesia”, Fotogalerie Objektief, Enschede, Holland
  • 2013 „Metropolis-Cities of Silesia”, Silesian Museum, Katowice, Poland
  • 2016 „Silesia and Galicia”, Museum of History of Photography in Cracow, Poland
  • 2016 „Lower Silesia-Cities and Towns”, Stara Galeria”(Union of Polish Art Photographers), Warsaw, Poland
  • 2017 „Michal Cala SILESIA 1975-1985”, MMX Gallery, London, U.K.
  • 2018 „Silesia”, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, USA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND FESTIVALS

  • 1985 „Polish Contemporary Artistic Photography”, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art in Warsaw and National Museum in Wroclaw, Poland
  • 1987 „Landscapes of The World”, Zachęta –National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
  • 2007 „Polish Photography in 20th Century”, Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw, Poland and Gallery of Lithuanian Art Photographers, Vilnius, Lithuania
  • 2007 2. FotoFestival Mannheim Ludwigshafen Heidelberg, Germany
  • 2008 The project „Behind Wall” at the Noorderlicht Photofestival in the Netherlands.
  • 2009 009 Night of the Museums, Fotografie Forum Frankfurt. Global Views: 20 international photographers chosen by Celina Lunsford, Germany
  • 2017 Belfast Photo Festival – the winner, North Ireland. U.K.
  • 2017 Athens Photo Festival, category: photobook, Greece
  • 2018 Photo London 17-20 May, U.K.
  • 2019 Photo London 16-19 May, U.K.

PUBLICATIONS IN MAGAZINES AND INTERNET

  • 1983 Architektura 6'83, Poland
  • 1985 Fotografia 1/35/85, Poland
  • 2007 Foto8 Vol.6 No.2 Autumn 2007, U.K.
  • 2007 The British Journal of Photography 26/09/07, U.K.
  • 2007 European Photography - Art Magazine No.82 winter 2007/2008, Germany
  • 2017 The Guardian - theguardian.com/2017/sep/15, U.K.
  • 2017 Black+White Photography, October 2017, U.K.
  • 2018 All-About-Photo.com, USA
  • 2018 EXIT „Smoke”, July 2018, Spain
  • 2020 TIME Nov. 2 / Nov. 9, 2020, USA

PUBLICATIONS IN BOOKS

  • Group presentations :
    • 1999 „The Anthology of Polish Photography 1839-1989”, publisher: Wydawnictwo Lucrum, Poland
    • 2000 „Masters of Polish Landscape”, publisher: Agencja Fine Grain, Poland
    • 2007 „Polish Photography in 20th Century” publisher: Association of Polish Art Photographers, Poland
  • Individual publications :
    • 1996 „Silesia”, publisher: Wydawnictwo Baturo, Poland
    • 2005 „Polish Mountains”, publisher: Wydawnictwo Kluszczyński, Poland
    • 2006 „Silesia”, publisher: Galeria Zderzak, Poland
    • 2015 „Silesia and Galicia”, publisher: Museum of History of Photography in Cracow
    • 2018 „Silesia-Michał Cała”, publisher: Blue Sky Books 2018, USA

SCHOLARSHIPS

  • 1984 Scholarship from Ministry of Culture and Art, Poland
  • 2013 Scholarship from Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Poland

WORKS IN COLLECTIONS

  • Union of Polish Art Photographers in Warsaw
  • Silesian Museum in Katowice
  • Silesian Library in Katowice
  • Museum of Upper Silesia in Bytom
  • Museum of the Coal Mining in Zabrze
  • Duisburg town hall, Germany
  • Individual collectors in Poland, Danmark, Germany, Holland, U.K., France, Switzerland, Italy, Ireland
  • MAST Foundation, Bologna, Italy