About a year ago, more than twenty photographers met in Samotnia to contemplate and photograph the mountains, get to know each other, and discuss photography. On Friday, the 12th of January 2024, at the Corridor Gallery in the Jelenia Góra Cultural Center at 5 pm, the opening of the exhibition called - will begin. Black and white?
The sponsor of the open-air event was Sony Poland, which provided the participants with the entire arsenal of its products, namely cameras and lenses. Everyone could try out the equipment they dreamed of, if, of course, they were interested in digital technology. The organizer was Marek Arcimowicz, who also wrote the introduction to the exhibition catalog:
We directly refer to the initiative of the artists Ewa Andrzejewska and Wojtek Zawadzki, who died in 2017. They organized plein-air workshops for invited artists, as they ran the Korytarz Gallery and worked at the Jelenia Góra Cultural Center, allocating part of the available funds for such an initiative. The aforementioned plein-air was usually organized in Samotnia, and was often combined with the Biennale of Mountain Photography in Jelenia Góra.
The plein-air workshop under the slogan "BLACK AND WHITE?" was intended, on the one hand, to strengthen the relations of the artistic communities and focus them in the region, on the other hand, it will also be another leaven for activities during the FotoCamp festival. It was a week for meetings, discussions about life and photography, for change. Evenings for presentations of their own projects, ideas. A few days, special people in a special place.
We came together from all over. Not only from Poland. From near and far. We have different vision, we represent different styles of photography. From colorful, sometimes hooked on graphics, sometimes using collage and photomontage. From the world of digital modernity, to analog light sensitive film and old-fashioned cameras. There are photojournalists among us, the kind with flesh and blood, catching the action, the moment. There are also pensive landscapers, who have to wait a long time for their moment, listening to the wind and getting into the deep end. There are the filmmakers who documented this beautiful time. And there is the painter who used paint and brush instead of camera and camera.
We were united by a desire to meet and openness to other people, a creative desire to exchange thoughts, impressions, ideas. Adoration of nature, mountains, beauty. Life. We were united by Samotnia, a unique place in Karkonosze, the mountains of Lower Silesia.
Marek Arcimowicz
Thanks to Janek Zawadzki, I was one of the participants and it was simply an extraordinary, wonderful time for me. Not only because of the mountains...
