Disappearing Circus (Polish: Znikający cyrk), made by Rafał Milach in Poland between 2005 and 2007, portrays retired circus performers trained at the Julinek school, photographed in their homes and amid the abandoned Julinek circus center near Warsaw.
The series uses these lives to think through Poland’s postwar cultural shifts and the later turn from communism to free market economy. Under the Polish People’s Republic, the state-run Cyrk Polski functioned as widely shared entertainment, and Julinek—established in the 1950s—served as an institutional hub for performers, teachers, and technicians. After 1989, that infrastructure weakened as public funding and collective habits changed; Julinek’s decline led to its official closure in 1999. Milach returns to the people shaped by that system to ask what remains when the stage, the audience, and the promise of steady work fall away.
Rather than action in the ring, the pictures focus on stillness and role-play. Acrobats, clowns, and magicians re-enter their former personas by putting on old costumes, then stand in living rooms, or apartment corridors. Milach often centers the sitter and lets domestic geometry press against outfits made for spectacle. Color heightens the mismatch: bright fabrics and props sit against muted interiors and the dust of disused arenas, making the past feel present but out of place.
Light does similar work. Milach works almost entirely indoors, leaning instead on shade, window light, and artificial sources. In several images, a directional beam recalls a circus spotlight. This light gives sequins, makeup, and worn wallpaper the same weight, supporting Milach’s idea of a "subjective document"—a personal record that admits nostalgia without staging it as a show.
The project became a turning point in Milach’s early career, winning first prize in the Arts and Entertainment category at the 2008 World Press Photo awards. As a co-founder of Sputnik Photos and a member of Magnum Photos, he has continued to examine socio-economic transformation across Central and Eastern Europe.
