Europejczyków portret własny
Self-portrait of Europeans

Summary/Abstract: The author brings the reader closer to the conception and theme of two exhibitions of the photographic portrait on show in 2015 and 2016 in European centres: FACES European Portrait Photography since 1990 and Mit anderen Augen. Das Porträt in der zeitgenössischen Fotografie. While referring to assorted ways of representing Eastern Europe and Poland the author pondered the reasons for the frailty of Polish portrait photography. An outline of the historical context of Polish post-1989 portrait photography is preceded by an analysis of works by Krzysztof Gierałtowski, the only Polish photographer to uninterruptedly pursue the portrait since the 1960s. The text ends with an analysis of ‘Portrety bez twarzy’, a book by Gierałtowski, which constitutes both his manifesto and a settlement of accounts, with the artist regarding himself as a great failure at the time of political, social, and technological changes.

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