“Ghetto” — Distinguishing marks

?Worldwide trends, top European photographers, nearly 50 exhibitions?? — This is how Photomonth 2007 in Krakow is being promoted. The core of the program, though, revolves around the works of a dozen-or-so individual exhibitions displayed as part of the ?Distinguishing Marks? segment. These photographs deal with problems of identity and individuality and emphasize the danger of attempting to reach objectivity.

The exhibitions include works by such outstanding European photographers as Martin Parr, Anders Petersen, Oliver Sieber, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin.

The ?Ghetto? exhibition at Pauza Club is a documentary presenting 12 isolated locations. The photos by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin were taken at the Rene Vallego Psychiatric Hospital in Camaguey, Cuba. The authors of the works, in a reporter-like manner, entered the hospital and tried to portray what they saw in an objective light. When depicting the lives of the patients, the authors focused on the simplest and most substantial issues. By asking questions such as —

How did you get here? Who is in authority here? Where do you go when you want to be alone? Do you make love? Where do you heal your teeth? ? they began to enter into a dialogue with the patients. Later, the photographers took a step further and let their models take control of the process ? allowing the patients to snap photos of themselves. One of these patients, Mario, whose photo graces the album?s cover, turned his back to the camera and then released the shutter.

Both Broomberg and Chanarin have been working as art directors for ?Colors? magazine for many years. They give lectures on documentary photography at the College of Communication.

?Ghetto? is a project made in 2003. The artists focus on socially-involved photography, but at the same time take a step further. They depart from pseudo-objectivity, taking photos at random moments.
 
Ghetto
May 8-June 32007
Pauza Club
ul. Florianska 18/5 (2nd Floor)

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