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Bio

Milan Gies (1977) is a photographer, working and living in Amsterdam. He worked as a teacher at several art schools, before founding his own small academy, Studio 307, where he teaches and coaches professional photographers. Before Milan graduated from the Photoacademie in 2009, he was a professional equestrian show jumper for many years and attended professional theatre school. Several of his photography series were displayed in exhibitions all over the world and published in prominent magazines and newspapers, both in the Netherlands and other countries. In 2022, his series ‘Composition’, in which he made portrait studies in collaboration with homeless people, was shown as part of the group exhibition ‘Rauw’ at Museum The Rembrandthuis in Amsterdam. The museum also purchased several of his works and included them in their collection.

Milan Gies’ work consists mainly of portrait studies and sculptural studies. He is fascinated by ‘the narrative body’, the way experiences, pain and complexity leave their marks. He often works with his portrayed subjects for long periods of time, building a bond of trust that allows him to get closer, literally and figuratively. In recent years, he has developed a unique, recognizable interpretation of portrait photography. An autobiographical element is always present in his work; in portrait studies, he looks for a convergence of his own experiences with human vulnerability and those of the people he works with. Symbolically, the often falling and struggling poses contain universal themes such as pain and survival. In his choice of subjects, he prefers people who, for whatever reason, cannot keep up well in our performance-oriented society or feel like outsiders. His images are often stripped of context as much as possible, sometimes even by depicting people partially or completely undressed, and almost always in a simple studio setting. In this way, he invites the viewer to approach his subjects as judgment-free as possible and contemplate the human being.

The Secret Of Breathing

In ‘The secret of breathing’, named after a song title by British rock band Tindersticks, photographer Milan Gies explores the question of what it means to be human and how we relate to the systems that surround us. His photographic studies revolve around our relationship with the societal frameworks that shape—or at times, constrain—our lives. What is natural, what is cultivated? What happens when these societal structures don’t align with our nature, or when we struggle to conform to them? What does the tension that arises from these struggles, and how we deal with them, reveal about us as a society? One of the examples he studies is the male gender role; do men have to be strong and economically successful, or do we have room for other male images? Through these images, he presents a complex choreography that navigates the tension between the natural and the cultivated, the tamed and the untamed. The inclusion of animals and (artificial) landscapes further deepens this exploration, linking them to our relationship with the broader physical world. The landscapes show cultivated spaces that are artificial and can evoke a feeling of alienation, but might as well be perceived as beautiful or inviting.

Gies’ creative process is grounded in the physical world, with a particular focus on the human body. Through his studies of physicality, posture, and movement, he uncovers the intricate complexities of individual experience. These explorations resonate with the universal —a shared, inherent movement in life that touches us all. This movement might manifest internally as desire, pain, courage, craving, or resilience. It reflects what it is like to bear the weight of existence, to be wounded and to fall, and to feel the persistent urge to rise and break free. The images serve as a medium to express and share these movements, rendering them both visible and tangible. His work portrays life as a continuous cycle—falling and rising, over and over again.

The men Gies works with over extended periods become akin to actors, conveying the universal narrative of a body that has lived—a body that carries the story of a life within it. These figures exist in isolation, in a space that is neither here nor there—a space that may resemble a room but is ultimately unidentifiable, more evocative of the inner world.

Composition 

The series Composition (2022) shows a realistic view of the human body. In this approach to the human body, Milan focuses on the physical and mental traces that life leaves behind. The central question is: to what extent can you see traumatic experiences reflected in the way someone looks or moves. At a time when ‘success’ and productivity seem to be the highest achievable goals, people who don’t live up to this ideal are often ignored or disapproved of. For this project, he has built up a long-term relationship with homeless men in and around Amsterdam, whom he photographed in his studio.

Composition

“Milan Gies was one of the participating artists in the exhibition RAUW, which was on display from January 22th  to  May 22th 2022 in the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam. His series Composition (2022) was an indispensable addition to the theme of our exhibition; a realistic view of the human body. In his approach to the human body, Milan focuses on the physical and mental traces that life leaves behind. The central question is: to what extent can you see traumatic experiences reflected in the way someone looks or moves. For his photo series, he has built up a long-term relationship with homeless men in and around Amsterdam, whom he photographed in his studio. The work shows Milan’s artistic qualities and his respectful and deeply human view of those who dwell in the margins of our society.

Milan’s photographs show painful human experiences without sensationalizing them; it is this understated and person-centered approach that gives Composition such a great expressiveness. The more than 50,000 visitors to the exhibition spent a long time reflecting on the photo series and have repeatedly expressed their emotional experience when seeing the photos. This testifies not only to the quality of his photographic work, but also to Milan’s ability to make people look at our society and our fellow humans in a different way. At a time when ‘success’ and productivity seem to be the highest achievable goals, people who don’t live up to this ideal are often ignored or disapproved of. Milan moves against the current by seeing and acknowledging especially these people in all their humanity. Thanks to Milan, they are not erased from history.”

Nathalie Maciesza

Curator contemporary art

Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam

Bernard

You’ve been lying in bed for a week now
Wondering how long it’ll take.
-Tiny tears, Tindersticks

These images are part of the series Bernard. This is a long-term project that I started in 2016 and which I am still working on. Ever since I got to know him, I have portrayed my good friend, at different phases of his life. Our friendship started when we were both in our mid-20’s and we attended drama school. Bernard was unconventional, original and elusive, which had an irresistible attraction on me and was a source of inspiration at the time. He showed me how art could represent the dark side of life. A world opened up for me. I eventually went from theater to photography and I can say that everything we shared back then, forms the basis for the main themes in my work now. We loved, for example, the Kindertotenlieder by Mahler, listened to Vier letzte Lieder by Strauss, studied paintings by Rothko and Bacon, we read poems by Charles Bukowski and Jotie t’Hooft and we loved the poetic lyrics by the band the Tindersticks.

Over the years, he has increasingly struggled with life, and his mood has grown heavier. In the course of this project, Bernard seems to have moved more and more towards the side of art that we love.

My focus in the series is on studying the way in which his body, posture and gaze tell the story of his, often painful, life. With a combination of love, hope and interest, I followed him with the camera through the years.
Sometimes it seems as if I’m trying to fathom if I can still retrieve the life that was buzzing in him in the past, in a short moment. Through and because of our contact and friendship, this has become a very human quest. That is what the series is mainly about: my deep desire to continue to see and know someone. By portraying Bernard we kept seeing each other, no matter what.

STATE OF IDENTITY

Over the years many intellectuals have struggled to understand and define the notion of identity. Is identity rigid or more fluid? Does such a thing as a man or a woman exists, or do these labels just serve the purpose of maintaining social order. What if you happened to be born in the wrong body and you have no choice but to confront your initial gender identity. In the series State of Identity the artist portrays those who are in search of their gender identity and are in the process of physical transition. In quest of answer the artist registers in a respectful manner doubts and uncertainties of these young people who literally and figuratively expose themselves for the first time. In doing so he removes them from their daily lives and photographs them in a monochrome setting. Closer to the source is hardly possible. Just as in his earlier work he establishes a bond through working with them over a long period. 

Old Love