"Soundless" series, 2005-2006
Wirow. Ex-brick works.
"Soundless" series, 2005-2006. The photograph is a part of the "Touch" exhibition which was held at the Polish Cultural Institute, London, from the 4th to the 26th May 2006.
The touch of history alters every landscape - be it mental or physical space. Ilona Jurgiel photographs places visibly changed as a result of certain events, areas that had been marked by the past and became symbols of the present and olden times. These remains of the past contain the very history of today's society within their fabric. Interestingly, Jurgiel’s photographs explore these histories; they recall the immediate post-communist reality in Poland and other Eastern European countries that were once occupied by the Soviet Union. The photographs are intentionally not personal in the immediate sense; they are more about history in a wider context of continuity, closure and change. There is more to these images than showing relicts of the gone. Ilona Jurgiel concentrates on the current situation, human ignorance, and selfishness which allowed the photographed places to decay, even though the overall situation in the new EU countries does not suggest that such waste could be justified. Next to the photographed debris of old buildings, that were once stables, barns, warehouses, brick works or primary schools, grow numerous posh villas and estates. Surprisingly, the documented places were once used and full of life. Nowadays the private owners simply refuse to sell them, and allow them to become ruins... The lands with the leftovers will eventually be sold but their value will have become incomparable to what it used to be...
"Soundless" series, 2005-2006. The photograph is a part of the "Touch" exhibition which was held at the Polish Cultural Institute, London, from the 4th to the 26th May 2006.
The touch of history alters every landscape - be it mental or physical space. Ilona Jurgiel photographs places visibly changed as a result of certain events, areas that had been marked by the past and became symbols of the present and olden times. These remains of the past contain the very history of today's society within their fabric. Interestingly, Jurgiel’s photographs explore these histories; they recall the immediate post-communist reality in Poland and other Eastern European countries that were once occupied by the Soviet Union. The photographs are intentionally not personal in the immediate sense; they are more about history in a wider context of continuity, closure and change. There is more to these images than showing relicts of the gone. Ilona Jurgiel concentrates on the current situation, human ignorance, and selfishness which allowed the photographed places to decay, even though the overall situation in the new EU countries does not suggest that such waste could be justified. Next to the photographed debris of old buildings, that were once stables, barns, warehouses, brick works or primary schools, grow numerous posh villas and estates. Surprisingly, the documented places were once used and full of life. Nowadays the private owners simply refuse to sell them, and allow them to become ruins... The lands with the leftovers will eventually be sold but their value will have become incomparable to what it used to be...