NAPO IMAGES PHOTO AGENCY

7th July 2020

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Wounded Birds are Wary
Exhibition: Adam Lach

Over the past three-and-a-half years, Adam and Dyba Lach have passed through Poland A, Poland B, and Polands of every other letter. Their work itinerary recalls the heyday of reportage, when editorial offices sent reporters to regions around the country simply to check in with how things were on the ground. A reporter wasn’t given unlimited time, but still had ample opportunity to properly cover an area, and even to grow bored with it.

Back then, the country was closed but the people: open. Today, the world has accelerated. It seems smaller. Borders are, for the most part, crossable. And yet for some time now in Poland, everything has felt entrenched: the sides, views, and divisions, the myths and symbols. Diagnoses are readily available and easy to ingest. All you have to do is pick one out.

Adam and Dyba Lach, however, had their doubts, which formed the basis of the texts and photographs comprising the book How to Rejuvenate an Eagle. Unlike that book, the exhibition Wounded Birds Are Wary is textless. All you need to know upon entering the gallery is that we are in Poland—and Poland during ‘interesting times.’

You can show a lot through photographs, but not necessarily with concrete exactness. Much depends on the contexts we each bring. When considering photography, and Poland itself, one should heed the words sung by Maria Peszek in ‘Polska A B C & D’: ‘Nothing is what it seems.’

Curator: Michał Łuczak





where: Galeria Szara Kamienica, Rynek Glowny 6, Krakow
when: tue-fri 1-6pm, sat-sun 12-4pm
until: July 26, 2021