“Classic Africa”
Africa’s wild animals, the vastness of the arctic, and, above all, the earth’s inexhaustible reservoir of forms and colours: These are the phenomena that lead Michael Poliza to begin taking photos of nature and animals from a helicopter. Now he has chosen to present eight striking portraits of individual animals from his “Classic Series.” These black and white shots of predatory cats, giraffes, and elephants vary in their composition, but share a gentle, almost vintage quality: The lion’s mane appears shaggier, the eyes of the leopard glossier. It is as if a trace of wild photography is lurking behind the portrayal of these wild animals.
Stephan Reisner
When someone goes on a journey, he has something to show. Michael Poliza (*1958) went on an eight-week journey with his friend Stefan Breuer, an astounding and unusual adventure from Hamburg to Cape Town by helicopter, with about 150 stops in approximately 14 countries. The result is an unprecedented collection of landscape and animal photographs taken from a bird's eye view. Panoramic scenes alternate with close-ups: flocks of birds and geometric fields; majestic mountains and wandering droves of wild animals show the other side of the continent. He discovered living beauty at its best and purest, though the trip was by no means easy – Poliza told Stern magazine, "Luck is when good preparation and opportunity meet." It is clear from his achievements that in addition to being blessed by the winds of chance, he was in a state of perpetual readiness and aesthetic appetite. He appears to hover above the landscape without a sound, like a predator for its prey, waiting for the right moment when light and motif coincide perfectly. What is essential for him is the artist’s "total integration with the laws of the wild, with nature itself." The harvest the photographer brings to us from Africa clearly shows the respect he has for the dignity of the continent, its landscape and wildlife. And somehow Poliza’s photographs remind us of the images that Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford) encountered from his small propeller plane when flying to his lover Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep) on her farm in the Kenyan White Highlands. And of the last scene in the film “Out of Africa” by Sydney Pollack when the camera moves over the grave where Denys, after his fatal plane crash, is buried, into the endless breadth of landscape, while the lion, the soul of the continent embodies Denys or perhaps even both.
| 1958 | born in Hamburg |
| 1968-1978 | Actor for television movies and shows and in numerous theater productions in Hamburg |
| 1979-1981 | Education at University of Tulsa, Oklahoma |
| 1980 | Education at Universität Hamburg |
| 1993-1996 | First expeditions and successes behind the camera |
| 1996 | First publication with Tom Jacobi in Stern magazine on an expedition to the depths of Papua New Guinea |
| 1998-2001 | „Starship Millennium Voyage“: three-year ship expedition around the world, resulting in the bestselling “Die Reise der Starship. In 1000 Tagen um die Welt (The Story of the Starship. Around the World in 1000 Days) |
| 2002-2006 | Extensive trips and photo expeditions through Africa, resulting in the 2006 monograph Africa from teNeues publishing house. The New York Times wrote, “Africa…might change the way you think about photography.” |
| 2006 | „Heliafrica“: eight-week helicopter trip from Hamburg to Cape Town. Stern published the first images in a 35-page series. |
| 2007 | The monograph of the breathtaking aerial photographs from this trip was published under the title Eyes over Africa. |
| 2007 | The exhibition Eyes over Africa shown in galleries in Munich, Hamburg and Düsseldorf |
| 2009 | Poliza’s most recent photo project is published: Antarctic - Life in the Polar Regions |
| Michael Poliza opens his gallery in Hamburg, Germany | |
| He becomes ambassador for the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) | |
| 2010 | His book "South Africa" is published |
| "Classic Africa" is published at teNeues | |
| 2011 | His book "Kenya" is published at teNeues |
| Lives primarily in Cape Town |
Exhibits (Selection)
| Titel: | Eyes over Africa |
| 12.09.-31.10.07 | Andreas Baumgartl, Gallery for Contemporary Art, Platzl 4a, 80331 Munich |
13.09.-30.10.07 | Kirsten Roschlaub GalleryMilchstraße 10, 20148 Hamburg |
| 10.10.-25.11.07 | LUMAS Editionsgalerie DüsseldorfGrünstraße 8, 40212 Düsseldorf |
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