KARCZEBY by Adam Panczuk
Exhibition “Karczeby” by Adam Panczuk
Yours Gallery from Warsaw is happy to announce a new photographic exhibition “Karczeby”. The opening will be on 28th January 2010 and photo-works will be on display until 7th March 2010. Exhibition consists of black & white photographs, showing portraits of village people in a very specific way.
Karczeby is a part of larger work on Polish villages, focusing on the relationship between human being and nature and on the essence of humanity in relation to the earth. Project presents the people living in villages, their strong devotion to the land and respect for nature. It also shows how hard work is converted into the farmers’ dignity. In a dialect spoken in the east of Poland, which is a mixture of Polish and Belarusian, Karczeb is a vernacular word for people strongly connected to the land they cultivate.
A Karczeb is also called a stump with roots still stuck in the ground after the tree has been cut down. It refers metaphorically to the problems these people have experienced with various aggressive authorities, who have tried to eradicate or dislocate them in the past.
However, they still stand tall on their land. And when a Karczeb farmer’s life comes to an end, he is buried in his soil, but his children or grandchildren remain on the land to continue the tradition of their ancestors.
Adam Panczuk was born in 1978. He is a graduate of University of Economics and Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan – Faculty of Multimedia Communication. He traveled through Asia from Middle East to Siam taking photos.
He is now working on a project depicting the transformation of Polish village. His focus is on the relationship between human being and nature and on the essence of humanity in relation to the earth, the seasons, and passing away and birth as inseparable elements.
Adam Panczuk is a receiver of many awards, just to mention a few:
2009 PhotoEspana (PHE), OjodePez Award for Human Values, Finalist
2009 BZ WBK Press Photo, I prize for picture story in category Portraiture
2009 Grand Press Photo, I prize for picture story in category People
2009 Sony World Photography Awards, Finalist in category Fine Art Portraiture
2006 Newsweek Poland Photo Awards, II prize for picture story in category Culture
2006 National Geographic Photography Contest, I prize in category Culture
2004 Photographer of the Year 2004 BBC News, Finalist in category Street life
2004 Photo Festival in Lodz, I prize in “Deciding moment” contest.
