The Normals

By definition most people are “normal”. Some want to be different and follow the norms of a specific social or cultural tribe. They are normal too. And there are those who would laugh at such nonsensical categorizations, who don’t believe in or live by conventions, but create their own reality and live it naturally. They were the subject of Pol Kurucz’s last photo series, genuine eccentrics, weirdoes and lunatics who in the eyes of the photographer are the new Normal.   

Shooting for this last series took place in the Kolor Studio, in the heart of Rio de Janeiro, where the Kolor Art Collective built all the sets and accessories. Most models, performers, and actors featured in the photos come from the city’s humanist microcosm and themselves belong to redefined group of the Normal.       

The series in 2017 also include: Uncovers (ten revisited international magazine covers), Glam Jail (eight female fashionistas glamorizing a visitor booth) and Hair Poems (visual allegories between hair styles and objects). 

The photographer: 

Pol Kurucz was born with two different names to a French mother in a Hungarian hospital. His childhood hyperactivity was treated with theatre, and theatre was later treated with finance. By 27 he was a CEO by day and a stage director by night. He then went on consecutive journeys to Bahrain and Brazil, to corporate islands and favelas. He has sailed on the shores of the adult industry and of militant feminism and launched a mainstream moneymaking restaurant loss making in its indie art basement. Then he suddenly died of absurdity. 

Pol was reborn in 2015 and merged his two names and his contradictory lives into one where absurdity makes sense. Today he works on eccentric fashion and fine art projects from his Rio de Janeiro studio. His photos have been featured in over a hundred publications including: Vogue, ELLE, Glamour, The Guardian (Arts), Adobe Create, Hunger TV, Sleek and Nylon. 

The production team: 

Photography and art direction: Pol Kurucz 

Styling: Natasha Sych 

Set design: Mary Cruz, Lara Ferro 

Casting and styling: 

Tamires Melo, Carolyna Mello  

Beauty: Andressa Pontes 

Coordination: Tamires Melo 

Technical assistance and illumination:

 Gui Griebler, Lucas Stirling