Faces of ?Praga? ? people of my neighbourhood.
After the Second World War, the demolished neighbourhoods of the left bank of the Vistula river in Warsaw were rebuilt. Today, those neighbourhoods are considered to be a jewel of the city. "Praga" on the right bank of the river was relatively unharmed in the war, but then left alone to deteriorate. It was the abandoned citizens of Warsaw who found their home in the old stone buildings of this district. Many of these unfortunate people are my friends and neighbours today.
The pictures that I?m presenting are a part of a much larger project, in which I portray the people of my neighbourhood in their ordinary, everyday surroundings. The photographed scenes have not been staged.
1. People from outside are not trusted by the locals of Praga (even by the children, who often play without adult supervision).
2. The people of Praga distict know each other very well. They keep in touch with both close and not-so-close neighbours. In this picture there are two neighbours - two friends having a party in front of their house on a summer day. Alcohol helps loosen one's tongue.
3. Holidays spent out in the yard. On a summer day Maria is looking after 4 of her own children and a couple of children from the neighbourhood. None of them will leave the city this summer.
4. Criminal retirement. "Baldy" and his friends are watching the traffic from a house entrance. They have nothing to do today. The criminal tradition of the Praga district dates back to the XIX century. Once there were whole criminal families where the trade 'know-how' was passed on from father to son. Praga's thieves and burglars were the elite of the Warsaw underworld.
5. Andrzej suffers from Buerger disease. He lives alone in his small bedsit in an old, comfort-free tenement building. In Praga there are many council flats for the disabled or people unable to work, who live only on state benefits.
Maciej Pisuk
A graduate of the screenwriting course at the State Academy of Film, TV and Theatre in Ł?dź. For the last five years he has also been involved in photography. He has had three individual exhibitions: ?A window facing onto the yard? ? at Warsaw University?s Faculty of Journalism, ?Photographs from Poland? ? at the Galeria Obok ZPAF, as well as "Festivites" at The Photomonth in Krakow 2007. Maciej is the winner of several prizes and honourable mentions in Polish national photographic competitions. He is a member of the ?Forum? photographic agency.
