On Wednesday 5 June 2013, Doc Next Network will give presence at the Dutch Doc Awards with a po-up expo called Uprooted. Uprooted is about the need to belong somewhere. Young Polish D-I-Y photographers share how they identify with places and people that are important in their lives. What does it mean to be “at home? Who exactly am I – Pole, European, or maybe my Axis Mundi is my hometown? Why is it important to know the answer? Uprooted is curated by Krzysztof Pacholak.
This pop-up exhibition is a selection of works from the Doc Next Network Media Collection. All of these photo projects were developed during the Polska.doc programme.
Watch Uprooted online:
https://vimeo.com/67642050
0:15
Artur Gutowski
Land
“As a child I used to spend the summer with my family in the country. This series is my personal interpretation of the land composed of my childhood memories. The photographs depict people close to me as well as places where I have experienced a lot. There is something unusual about this place, something special. Something I’ve never found anywhere else. Maybe it’s the time that stopped for me there…”
2:10
Katarzyna Zolich
Coordinates
“In my project I explore our ways of constructing our own identities and images. Who we are, whom we want to be, how do we function in the world of images, how do we conduct the process of social identification?
Immigrants in Poland are the protagonists. I am interested in their stories and their personal photographic interpretation. We start with a conversation – I ask about their reasons for leaving for Poland, the first impressions, emotions associated with living in a strange land, about the changes that took place (or did not take place) in their consciousness. Then we choose one of the stories and my protagonists represent it through photography. They arrange the surroundings and themselves. I believe that this gives the group of migrants, accustomed to being represented by others, the opportunity to express themselves.”
4:20
Rafal Janicki
Madland
“Świrlandia (English: Madland) is where I come from. It’s a small town in eastern Poland. Two huge factories, one old cinema, a famous psychiatric institution and an historic market square always empty after 6 p.m. It was called a mad town for as long as I can remember. It was an end of the world that I always wanted to leave.
Through photography I am trying to discover my town from a migrant’s perspective. I meet old friends who returned after graduation and inhabitants who have never left for a longer while. I watch the town landscape and try to bring back my memories of that place. I try to imagine how my life would look like if I decided to come back.”
8:00
Marta Zgierska
Border
“Border. Poland. Beginning of a journey.
These images are a result of my journey along the eastern border of Poland, the border with Belarus and Lithuania. It’s an experience of void, loneliness and oblivion.
A dive into the landscape is a moment of consideration given to the phenomenon and absurdity of borders.”
10:40
Szymon Walus
30%
“After Slovakia joined the Euro zone, many Slovakians were forced to do their shopping in Poland. It was only few years earlier, that Poles travelled to buy cheaper alcohol, chocolates or sugar abroad. Now super markets, butcheries and building materials magazines are filled with slovakian shoppers. Once again economy dictates the rhythm of our lives. The 30% is the most common estimate of the proportion of money saved by the traveling shoppers.”
Doc Next Network was invited by the Dutch Doc Photo Foundation to take part in the debate ‘The Inclusive vs. The Exclusive – who to trust?’ during the annual Dutch Doc Award ceremony. For this occasion, the pop-up exhibition UPROOTED is presented. For the debate, Doc Next Network has put forward Agnieszka Rayss.
ABOUT THE PARTNERS
Polska.doc is a series of seminars for young artists and budding culture animateurs interested in documentary film and photography.
The project is about sharing experience and tested work methods with young creators and cultural animation courses. The project encourages cultural and educational actions, which utilize film and photography. It creates an opportunity for hands-on testing of the skills acquired.
Polska.doc is implemented by the Association of Creative Initiatives „ę”, Polish partner of Doc Next Network. The association produces social and artistic projects. It creates and promotes new models for action in the realm of culture. The association has been running socio-cultural projects all over Poland since 2002. It supports initiatives of the young (Young Managers of Culture” and seniors (Seniors in action), helps young artists (Film preschool, Videonotations, Photopresentations, Snapshots, Poland.doc) and encourage cultural institutions to implement changes (ZOOM on the cultural centers).
The Dutch Doc Award is the annual prize for documentary photography – from journalism to conceptual. Aim of the Dutch Doc Photo Foundation is to bring photo documentary under a broad public attention, to encourage innovation in an international context, and to create platforms for photographers can display their work for exhibition and discussion.
AWARD SHOW TICKETS
Date: Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Time: 19:00 to 22:30
Place: Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Mauritskade 63 in Amsterdam.
Tickets: 5 euros, available at the door at 19:00. Sign up via award@dutchdocaward.nl to reserve.
ABOUTt KRYSZTOF AND AGNIESZKA
Krzysztof Pacholak is supervisor of photography section in Polska.doc program. Photograph and graphic artist. Coordinator of projects in the Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”: “Snapshots – meetings with photography” and “ Photopresentations”, co-author of “Young Mangers of Culture”. Cooperates with many non-governmental organizations (photography sessions, graphic designs). Graduated sociology in the Institute of Applied Social Sciences at Warsaw University and at Institute of Creative Photography in Opava. Author of a photoblog multicontrast.blogspot.com. Member of the Flying Culture Animators network. pacholak.net
Agnieszka Rayss, photographer, freelancer, based in Warsaw, Poland. Her area of work is documentary photography. She studied art history at the Jagiellonian University. Co-founder and member of the Sputnik Photos International Association of Photojournalists (www.sputnikphotos.com). A two-time winner of the Picture of the Year award in 2011 and 2012, a two-time finalist in the Hasselblad Masters Award, winner of press photography competitions, including Newsreportaż and Grand Press Photo. Recipient of a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture in 2012 and from the Visegrad Fund in 2007. She published the album “American Dream” (about cultural transformation and the triumph of pop culture in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe). She took part in several individual and group exhibitions, including the Prague Biennale 2009 and the Noorderlicht Photofestival 2008 and 2009. She is interested in how post-communist countries try to copy western trends, as well as the pop cultural manifestations of the transformation. Her work has appeared in magazines such as Newsweek, The Guardian. In recent years she has also worked on landscape as well as topics related to ecology. www.agnieszkarayss.com
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