Silesia Workshops of Documentary Photography 2004 - Project Description
During the first week of December in Silesia - it's hard to get any more specific as to the location as since we have been absolutely everywhere - a project one of a handful in Poland and the only one of its type in Silesia took place - the Silesian Workshops of Documentary Photography - prepared and organized by the Photography Group TrakTor in cooperation with AEGEE Katowice.
It began on Saturday when our first participant - Miguel - arrived straight from the Indian Ocean Island of Reunion to cold November Poland, others arrived either on Sunday or on Monday. The first night in Poland, in organizer owned flats, firs conversations in the "working language", the meeting of old and new friends, the late night and early morning excursions through the empty, cold, snow covered streets to pick up new arrivals helped to crate a climate of cooperation and friendship.
On Monday the participants have been immediately immersed into Silesian climates. Already during the first day the participants, divided into groups equipped with maps, a list of places worth attention and helped by the organizer-turn-guides, set out to explore. The public transport network in Silesia is well developed an so a single ticket was enough to cater for the participants transportation needs. From the very beginning we wanted the participants to decide where to go, to make them explore and look for places often overlooked by those who live here. They ware to talk to the local people to, to get to know their language, culture and everything that makes them who they are. The guides role was to help only to help to brake the language barrier that divided our guests from the somewhat alien world around them.
We had to face the "paradox of interesting" places. Districts like Bobrek, Nikiszowiec or towns like Brzeziny that are very interesting for the camera - are still there but will soon disappear, as the mines that once gave them life close down, and the generations for whom they meant so much die along with their unique language and culture. While at first many of us were fearful to explore such places minding the possible dangers to our photography equipment... all we found was kindness and interest. For us the camera has been a great contact building tool.
One of the guides - Piotr - wrote: Our first day began with a discussion on places we could visit. Asked for advice I said: Bytom. Why? Because it's very different than Katowice. “OK, let's go" was the answer I got from others.
Even though we went there with photography in mind, what surrounded us was an atmosphere of an Sunday afternoon stroll. Only when some of us took quick snaps was our real aim visible. No one was looking for a spectacular sight, and in most cases I found it difficult to to tell what Urban, Lauma, Bartek and Lukasz were trying to capture. Seeing the photos they took during the day only reinforced my feeling that in a good photographer's eye anything can be a interesting subject. What I found impressive about the group was on one side their openness to ideas of other members on on the other the fact that they were ready to sacrifice a lot for photography. It was easily noticeable when we set forth to explore, under the watchful eyes of the locals, the gates on one of Bytom's more infamous streets.
During the first day we also had two lectures on the history of Silesia the other the other on Silesian photographers and their work. The fatigue cause by a day filled with work quickly dissolved as we ate a tasty vegetarian meal at the Zloty Osiol Bar. After that we all returned to the hostel and quickly fell asleep.
Tuesday began as early as Monday did. The organizers didn't give the participants a moment to rest. Before the workshops began we heard many people say that this could not be accomplished, that many have tried to create such an ambitious project already - only four day shooting, four afternoons in the darkroom, lectures and an exhibition on top of it all. I have to admit that we had doubts if the participants would have enough endurance to go through it all, but,as the exhibition shows, we were right to impose such a rigorous schedule.
Tuesday was the first day we had a chance to take part in darkroom workshops. We were warmly welcomed in the well equipped darkrooms of ZSTiO nr 3 im E. Abramowskiego. Each and everyone of us remembers the special atmosphere inside - the smell of chemicals, the hot and moist air, the constant cracking sound of the dryers. The darkroom workshops were planned so that beside learning how to work there all the participants had a chance to prepare their photographs for the exhibition.
The only problem we had to face was the constant struggle with with time. Ever evening the films had to be driven to the lab to be developed,scanned and returned the next day before the workshops began, at times this process resembled an American action movie.
Tuesday was also the day when the participants, especially those from countries other than Poland first had to face the challenge of eating Polish food at Silesian Universities Mensa. The food served at the UniMensa tastes almost like the one cooked home and so the participants had a chance to taste both home like cooking and and food that is daily eaten by many of the students.
The late finish of the first day's workshop and the planned dinner at Hipnoza club meant that we could not organize a proper St. Andrew's Day celebration. That's why the celebration contrary to the tradition had to be moved to the next day and took place in the hostels kitchen and dining room. This departure from the tradition in no way meant that the fest itself wasn't traditional - the evening was filled with fortune-telling and various games. For obvious reasons next day's workshops began somewhat late... which in itself wasn't a bad thing, since we were visited by Basia - a reporter from Radio eM, who interviewed some of the the participants. for many of them this was the first time they have been on the radio.
With each day passed the photos we made have seemed to better reflect Silesia's character and while this usually meant photographing building and places that we - the locals - see as being characteristic for the region, we oftentimes found ourselves looking with astonishment at things that only became visible through the outsiders eye. The girl from the enormous Lavazza ad at the railway station quickly became the main motif of numerous photos and the unofficial symbol of the Worksops.
We have been everywhere, we managed to visit all Silesian cities we could get to with public transport. The effect of our work - an image of a diverse, changing Silesia - shown throughout December at the SilesiaDocument exhibition - can now also be admired in this gallery.
The day of the exhibition was the single most important one during the whole week. I began slowly, after all we've spent the night partying at Clubo. Around noon he participants started to gather, and the preparations for the opening show started. Like the photos before the the exhibition was to be created by the participants - it was to be the culmination of a weeks work - all we did was to supply them with any materials they could find useful. Their ideas were to be on show and we wanted to give them the full freedom to decide how to show them. Around three o'clock we finished our work and ate a tasty meal at Tatiana - an elegant restaurant in the center of Katowice, where the participants were able to taste the finest Polish cuisine.
The guest lured by posters hanging in various places around the city, invitations we have sent, and finally by information broadcast by Radio eM began to arrive at 5 o'clock. After the official part, the atmosphere relaxed and the majority of the evening was spent on casual conversations concerning the works on show. For the participants this was all about photography, for us - the organizers - it was the first time after weeks of hard work where instead of worrying if everything works perfectly we could get some well reserved rest and enjoy the evening.
Project Menager Pawel Wittich
- 0
- I
- II
- III
- IV
- V
- VI
- VII
- VIII
- IX
- X
Sponsors and Partners:
- Organiser
- Cooorganiser
Warning: main(google.htm) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /users/marekpol/www/silesiadocument.marekpol.com/description04.php on line 193
Warning: main(google.htm) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /users/marekpol/www/silesiadocument.marekpol.com/description04.php on line 193
Warning: main(google.htm) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /users/marekpol/www/silesiadocument.marekpol.com/description04.php on line 193
Warning: main() [function.include]: Failed opening 'google.htm' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/php4-cgi/include:/usr/local/php4-cgi/lib:/conf/php/php4/pear:/usr/share/pear') in /users/marekpol/www/silesiadocument.marekpol.com/description04.php on line 193
2006 © Marek Pol - eMPe webdesign ::eMPe webdesign