CRACOVIA PROJECT
In the fall of 2005 I relocated to the city of Krakow, to research a project which would depict the life, culture, and the people of contemporary Poland. This body of work is entitled ‘Cracovia’ and is composed of sixteen figure narratives and cityscapes. The project was first initiated in the district of Kazimierz, The Old Jewish Ghetto, during an eight-month residence. While in Krakow, I worked directly with the community by employing several individuals as live models. When the series was moved to Canada, I hired models of Polish decent to maintain a sensibility of the culture.
Many of the images guide the viewer through contemporary Poland, shedding light on historically loaded areas of Kazimierz. Although strikingly historical, all images are contemporary and depict how it is seen today. In this project, it is my intent to present ideas about Poland’s unique struggle to balance the emotional burden of it’s past with its modern existence, as this is an intrinsic element to its modern identity. By offering a contemporary image of Poland, I am also presenting ideas about the political, ideological, and theoretical issues, which have greatly influenced post-communist Europe. It is my hope to open a dialogue about history, culture and the procession of time. The following description is a synopsis of the history of Poland between the eighteenth and the twenty-first century. It offers information on a country, which for most people, is far removed.
SHORT HISTORY OF POLAND:
IDENTITY AND SURVIVAL: 1790-1990
Poland is a country that has endured innumerable wars, often resulting in frequently changing borders with Austria, Hungary/Ottoman, Germany, Sweden and Russia. In the eighteenth century the nation was divvied up unjustly amongst its neighbouring countries for a period of one hundred and twenty eight years. Forbidden to exist or use its language until 1918, Poland managed to survive albeit as a theoretical nation. For a short time after World War One, these borders were re-established however, and the nation was given back its solidarity.
Invaded by Germany in 1939, Poland was once again controlled by foreign rule. As a desire to control citizens of Jewish origin, Germany issued that they be identified, segregated and later incarcerated into designated areas in the major cities of Poland. In order to confine and control the population to one area, quarantined sections were designated in the major cities. In Krakow, a Ghetto was established in the district of Kazimierz, located south of the Historical City. In good faith, the Jewish population left their livelihood and belongings behind and were assigned to living quarters which would often house more than one family to a room. This community faced unimaginable famine, foul conditions, mass shootings, death and eventually deportation, but never imagined that the worst was yet to come.
Six million Jews, gypsies, gays, visual minorities and political prisoners were exterminated under Nazi occupation in the Second World War. Poland suffered a great loss, as consequently large populations of these individuals resided within its borders. This would forever alter how Poland would identify its cultural history.
Fierce uprisings resulted from a variety of underground groups; such as the Partisans, the Polish Underground, and unified Jewish organizations in work camps and survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto. The Germans responded to Poland’s retaliation by burning and demolishing most of its major cities. As a result, the visual history of Poland, identified by its historical architecture, was consequently eradicated. The capital of Warsaw was ordered to be flattened, and was left with a mere eight buildings standing. Many highly symbolic references were lost in Warsaw, since the many of the historical emblems, which once defined its cultural identity, were demolished. Demolishing a city such as Warsaw, stripped its residents of symbolic evidence of the war. This has stirred much confusion for survivors and generations to follow, who would be left to comprehend the emotional burden in the absence of visual references.
The city of Krakow, however, emerged from the war unscathed. Designated a possible residence, Hitler ensured the southern city was protected. Thus, districts such as The Old City and Kazimierz were untouched. Liberated by the Russian army in 1945, Poland was freed of its occupation from Germany. Liberation was essentially an exchange of hands, however, when Russia closed its doors in the 1950’s to enforce the socialist ideology of communism. Poland’s dreams of having a united, free Poland were shattered. As a highly Christian nation, it would also experience a theological threat, through communist atheism. Several years into the occupation, a Polish priest named John Paul the Second was elected to the Vatican. From this position he restored his nation with power to survive its most impoverished circumstances by maintaining strength, unity and hope through its spiritual ideology.
POLAND TODAY (2007)
Krakow remains today as if time stood still. The economical circumstances of communism have left parts of Krakow to remain as a virtual replica of its past. In areas of Kazimierz, the surrounding wall, parks, cemeteries, buildings and apartment buildings of the once former Ghetto, are astoundingly preserved and exist now as living visual memory.
Poland’s struggle to exist as a nation for two hundred years has resulted in a strong sense of patriotism; they carry their nationhood with pride. Some controversy remains, however, over the emotional burden of the ‘work’ and ‘extermination’ camps, which were predominantly built and conducted on Polish land. Sites such as Auchwitz, located in Oswiciem have been preserved for historical reasons and are visited year round.
After recent occupations in the twentieth century, contemporary Poland today is a place where all three living generations represent three dramatically different historical periods (Nazi, Communist occupations and Democracy). Naturally, this community understands and must negotiate ideologies along side one another; thus it possesses an immense diversity in wisdom. With the joining of the European Union in 2003, Poland has faced the complex balance of maintaining old values with new and modern elements, and western influence. Simply stepping out into the street, one experiences this dichotomy visually, whether through billboards on abandoned or un-reclaimed Jewish buildings, priests and nuns eating donairs, or simply the assortment of goods in small kiosks. Many elements of its pre-twentieth century life such as family values, cultural ideology, food, traditions, and religion have been preserved. Yet with the influx of western influence, this Eastern nation is on the brink of change, thereby making it truly necessary to document and preserve its loaded and unique cityscapes.