I Am Warning You by Rafal Milach is a book-quadtych dedicated to three different border walls: American-Mexican (#13767), Hungarian-Serbian-Croatian (I Am Warning You) and the Berlin Wall (Death Strip). Collectively, along with an additional book of connected essays, they present an architectural survey dedicated to propaganda and control whilst also collecting experiences – the memories and scars – of the borderland communities. The project represents various physical structures that are degrading from one book to another—
from the heavily fortified American wall to the Hungarian electric fence to the traces and memory imprints of the Berlin Wall.
For almost a decade, Milach has been working on a long-term project focusing on the propaganda mechanisms of contemporary corrupt democracies and authoritarian regimes. This quadtych is the latest chapter in this project, relevant in a contemporary context of the recent events of the US elections and anniversary of Germany’s re-unification. Despite various geographical locations and the different nature of each wall, the global atmosphere of division and fear fuelled by various power structures is a strong common denominator between them.
Publisher’s Info
Spreads from the book I Am Warning You © Rafal Milach / Magnum Photos by courtesy of Gost Books
Book Specs: I Am Warning You by Rafal Milach published by Gost Books September 2021 | (#13767 + I Am Warning You + Death Strip + Collected Essays) | Designed by Ania Nalecka-Milach | Texts by Michael Dear, Antje Rávic Strubel and Ziemowit Szczerek | 210 x 265 mm with 312 pages | Boxed set of four books with soft covers and exposed spines | ISBN: 978-1-910401-60-6 | £55.00. Available here.
Youtube-Video: Rafał Milach | I Am Warning You | Live by Pix house (Polish)
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Photographer, visual activist, educator and author of photography books. Rafal Milach is a professor at the Krzysztof Kieslowski Film School in Katowice, Poland. His work focuses on topics related to the transformation in the former Eastern Bloc. A key focal point of his current artistic practice is the clash between non-heroic gestures and ostensibly neutral spaces, which are in fact set against a political background of current events. The oppressive nature of the areas Milach investigates is reflected in architecture, objects, and suitably formatted social structures. Rafal is an associate member of Magnum Photos.
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Header Photo: USA, Calexico, 11.2019 Shopping mall parking lot by the Mexican-U.S. border wall. © Rafał Milach / Magnum Photos