Sunday Portrait

                                                        COPYRIGHT © ULA WIZNEROWICZ

Eviction of Jan

Eviction of Jan Kwiatkowski from Galczyce in Wielkopolska, Poland. The area in which the farm is located, has been used to extend The Tomislawice open cast mine which belongs to PAK KWB Konin. 

Picture of Jan, from my project 'From the shadow of Toislawice Mine' is currentlybeeing exhibited in Lula, Sardinia. 

Check out the video made by Greenpeace Polska.

The story of Jan and his wife is real and quite shocking. It's not just that his farm is on the very edge of the mine and the buckets of the excavator turn slowly outside his window. Jan is the envy of the whole county - all of his land will be mined, they'll take the money and start life afresh.

Jan had problems with the valuation of his land. "I've been in court with the mine for four years now, and things are going that way because Polish courts are very just but also very slow. They've been taking my land for two years now," he gestures with his hand to a pit that begins just outside his window and stretches out to the horizon. "I wanted my price, they wanted theirs. The court is making its own valuation but that will take time and in the meantime the mine got a dispensation that allowed it to enter my property. And so I have no compensation and nothing to live off. Is this normal for this country - what do you think? Because I think that something is wrong here. They are trying to force me, plain and simple, like Lukashenka did in Ukraine, because if I have nothing to eat then I'll come to them on my knees. And the council has sent me a tax bill for the land which I no longer have, because they say that if I haven't relinquished the land to the mine in court then I have to pay tax on it. The fact that there's no land because now there's a pit is not important."

Jan, clearly irritated, shows the tax bill from the council, which has added punitive interest. "This year they're supposed to demolish my house and if I have nowhere to live then I get temporary accommodation somewhere in Wierzbnik. Because I can always just accept the compensation, their offer, based on their valuation."

Jan's wife says nothing but nods along to everything he says.  "At the public meeting they said that they will give a job to one son from each of the farms that will make way for the mine to compensate for their loss of inheritance. My son just graduated from the mining academy so they took him on and he worked for nine months in a mine. But because I stood up to them they let him go. They told him that if his father signs then they'll even find him a management job."

It's hard to believe all of this so Jan takes us on a tour of the house and the excavator is so close that it won't fit in the camera lens. A week later we learn that Jan is to get a visit from TV repoter Elżbieta Jaworowicz from documentary series "A case for a Reporter" so perhaps something will turn out well.

Unfortunately it didn’t. Jan has been evicted from his house…

SURRAU PHOTO WIN AWARD

Thrilled to be one of the 5 shortlisted photographers selected for the SURRAU PHOTO WIN AWARD, In this second edition is open only to the photographers selected for the festival Menotrentuno 2014. Thanks to the help of the sponsor Vigne Surrau, the festival this year can offer a bursary of 5.000 euros to the best project exhibited during the festival. The five photographers shortlisted, have been invited to spend a week-end in Arzachena, hosted by Vigne Surrau. The winner will be announced on the 20th of September. See you in Sardinia!

The Menotrentuno IV Festival

'From the shadow of Tomislawice Mine' is already on the walls of a historic centre, Lula in Sardinia. Have a look at one of my images which are taking part in The Menotrentuno IV Festival. You can read more about it here: http://www.menotrentuno.com/home-1/

Menotrentuno 2014

Happy to take part in THE MENOTRENTUNO, the international photography festival for young photographers up to 31 years old in Sardinia. Menotrentuno is looking for contemporary fresh eyes able to interpret the world and to create a reality where the young generations are the main characters of their times”. The fourth edition is made of 18 exhibitions in 11 villages and cities, drawing a sort of photographic map that spreads through the entire island. The fourth edition focuses on the topic of “Memory”, not the visual memory, but memory in a wider sense. In detail, this edition will try to understand which kind of memory is important to new generations.

Sunday's Interior

Stevenage, UK

                               © ULA WIZNEROWICZ          Stevenage, UK

Der Grief Magazine on TV

Happy to be among 9 photographers selected for Capriccio - Bavarian television - broadcast, which made the video about Der Greif - magazine for photography & literature. Watch the video here.

»A Process« – The exhibition

I'm taking part in the Exhibition organized by Der Greif Magazine at The Neue Galerie im Höhmannhaus, Augsburg

During the exhibition the editors of DER GREIF make their different steps of artistic work open to the public. If you want to get a deeper insight into the concept of the exhibition, click here.

Notters's Family

In 1993 in the pursuit of a simpler, modest life, Swiss couple, Claudia and Thomas emigrated to rural Poland. Together with their nine children they have been running an organic farm in picturesque Mazury, in the northeast of the country. In stark contrast to the high standard of living in Switzerland they first resided in an open fireplace tepee, leading a much less modern existence. Their search for something different took them through Italy and Southern France to find a land where they could be happy and at peace. A piece of land where they could realise the project they’ve always dreamed of, an ‘eco-village’. Their journey brought them to this area of Poland but, unfortunately, their idea didn’t work out. However, besides the bleak, depressing atmosphere and a really harsh first winter, they bravely decided to stay. And they never regretted making that choice. They have been living happily, in the village of Bachanowo, in a relatively poor region of northeast Poland, working on their farm and producing their famous Swiss cheeses for over 20 years.

GUP Portfolio

Thrilled to have my work published at the GUP portfolio!

Polish photographer Ula Wiznerowicz returned to the village of her birth to document and understand the pervasiveness of alcoholism, its effects and discontents. See more in our latest online portfolio: http://bit.ly/1do1GN9

Daylight Multimedia

Daylight Multimedia piece featuring my work - the prize for being selected as a Juror's Pick, 2012 DAYLIGHT PHOTO AWARD: http://vimeo.com/76359411

Irena's portrait on Verve Photo

Verve Photo is run by a photo editor Geoffrey Hiller. This new breed of documentary photography is a reminder of the power of the still image.

‘When he came back from prison he never even said he was sorry for what he’s done. He doesn’t talk to me anymore and he stopped coming over since he finished that bloody house. In court they asked if I forgave him. I said alright, but who will pay for all our grief?’ 

Read an inside story of Irena's portrait. From 'Behind he Curtain' focusing on the effects of alcoholism in a small rural community in Poland.

Photographs form 'Behind the Curtain' has been recently publishes in a limited edition of Witty Kiwi Magazine founded by Tomasso Parrillo.

Other photographers included:     Rafal Milach

Rafael Arocha

Diambra Mariani

Maurizio Esposito

Tommaso Parrillo

Eva Stenram

Sebastian Reiser

Laura Micciarelli

Brian Kaplan

Mathieu Bernard-Reymond

Martina Corà

Simon Kossoff

 'Behind the Curtain' will be exhibited on Friday, September 13th at a very unique place, The Witches' Tower Gallery, which  is part of The Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Slupsk region and was founded in 1976. The gallery is situated in a medieval tower, which used to be a prison for women. It is one of the oldest architectural monuments of the city of Slupsk. 

Coal mine project at piK magzaine

Project 'Displacement: from the shadow of Tomislawice Mine' has been published in piK 04 magazine and currently it has been presented at The Arles Photo Festival. The latest issue 04 can be purchase online 

'From the Shadow of Tomislawice Mine'

Open cast mining for lignite has a big impact on the landscape. Three years ago the Tomisławice open cast mine opened on the border of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie and Wielkopolskie counties in Poland. The development of the mine was accompanied by protests from environmentalists fearful about the impact of the mine on local ponds and lakes, particularly Lake Gopla, which is just eight kilometres away. Court cases aimed at overturning the mine's environmental permits are ongoing and the European Comission is still investigating the possibility that European Union law was infringed, while scientists are still in dispute about the long term impact of the mine on the region's Natura 2000 nature protection areas.

In the meantime a hole several kilometres wide has been dug in the borough of Wierzbinek and an equally impressive pit heap has appeared beside it. Residents whose farms made way for the mine took compensation and moved away while their neighbours stayed behind. Some houses are only tens of metres from the mine. This report looks at how the mine has changed their lives.

 Text by Leszek Pazderski
 Translated by Greg Goodale

                                                                                                                               

Issue 16 of Oh Comely magazine with my portrait of Stephen and Eemil and their colourful flat has just arrived.

'Behind the Curtain' has been shown at The Gallery of Modern Art (BWA) in Sandomierz, Poland 

PIEL de PHOTO issue 14 has been personally delivered into my hands straight from Barcelona during the launch of the magazine in London at LCC organised by Photography and the Archive Research Centre & PIEL de FOTO 

Daylight Photo Award - submission

Oh Comely- editorial portriats

Issue 15 of Oh Comely magazine with the image of Saudi Arabia's first female director and the portraits of mothers and daughters has arrived today: