Michał Patycki

14. 9. 2021

Michał Patycki, The Sun, 2015–2019

The Sun. The fundamental source of energy. It burns. It explodes. It radiates. It exhausts itself. It burns itself for the life of others. A similar sacrifice is made by the core of the Earth, exhausted by the mining of black coal. Where the rays of the Sun don’t reach, individuals toil on extracting energy resources for the rest of the population. The Sun project was inspired by an article about the miner Staszek Zięba, published in the mid-1950s in the Silesian weekly magazine Panorama. The article records the procedure by which a ‘sunlamp’ is used to compensate for insufficient sunlight in the mines. The Sun series responds to the issue of mining with science-fiction photographs made in the Barbara experimental mine in the town of Mikołów in Poland, as well as microscopic photographs of coal that are visually related to the Sun. It considers the possible apocalypse brought about by the plundering of the Earth, but it also offers an unconventional perspective on energy interconnectedness. It is clear as the sky that non-renewable energy will one day run out. If that were to happen to the Sun, our planet would have one week left. But what darkness would fall when we exhaust our own depths?

All images: Michał Patycki, The Sun, 2015–2019

Michał Patycki

is a Polish visual artist based in Czechia. He holds a BA in Creative Photography from the Silesian University in Opava. In his artistic practice, Patycki often applies both photography and other forms of visual art. Photography gives him the opportunity to approach unknown realities, which he can work through with the resulting image. The strength of his work comes first and foremost from its authenticity; each subject he tackles is examined thoroughly through in-depth research – searching in each instance for a suitable method of self-expression. Patycki often works with photographic archives, and plays with stories that may or may not have happened at all. His works have been exhibited in Poland and abroad.

#40 Earthlings

The fortieth edition of Fotograf Magazine focuses on earthlings. As usual, it thus partly shares the theme of the Fotograf Festival, expanding on it through both theoretical and photographic contributions. The conviction that photography, as a recording medium, is only one of the many ways of capturing natural processes and observing changes in the climate stands at the core of the artworks and approaches introduced on the pages of the magazine. A related motif is the idea of the natural metabolism of the image and trust in the capacity to capture within it traces of the reality that is changing around us. This also has to do with the conviction that folk (or artistic), non-scientific practice can serve as a guide on how to depict the climate crisis and uncover the principles of terrestrialness.