Kolekcja Wrzesińska 2021: Mox Longe Tarde

Kolekcja Wrzesińska (Września Collection) is a long-term photographic project, as a result of which an artistic photographic archive of the Town and Commune of Września has been founded. Every year, the mayor, Tomasz Kałużny, invites one photographer selected by the curator for an artistic residence. The artist’s task is to create a personal set of photographs that illustrates the commune and its inhabitants. At the same time, they have full creative freedom, both in terms of the subjects touched on and the ways of presenting them. The results of his work are published in the form of an artistic photo book and presented at an exhibition in Września.

In 2021, the chosen artist was Maciej Jeziorek. Words from the curator, Karol Szymkowiak:

The only effective means to protect oneself from the “Black Death” that claimed millions of victims in 14th century Europe, was to flee. That recipe of sorts, dating back to the times of Hippocrates, was expressed in a then popular Latin saying: Mox, longe, tarde, i.e.: flee fast, far away, don’t return too soon. Those three adverbs, at the time, described the common attitude towards plagues which were believed to be caused by poisonous “pestilence air”. People did indeed flee from the places affected by the plague, often blindly and at the last moment, which resulted in spreading the plague even further.

Nowadays, globalization has made it possible for the COVID-19 virus to be transmitted very quickly and widely throughout the world. There are no places in the global village to escape to. Instead of fleeing, we have started seeking shelter in our own homes which give us a sense of security. However, in the times of the continuing struggle against new waves of the pandemic, not everyone around the world has the privilege of safe, if somewhat inconvenient for some of us, home isolation. Despite experiencing the world-wide pandemic, we as humans have not been able to overcome our flaws that seem to provide us with new, yet so familiar, reasons to flee. Wars, poverty, religious or political persecution. Each new wave of pandemic is followed by a wave of migration.

Although the act of escape is Maciej Jeziorek’s starting point, he is not so much interested in its reasons per se, but more in its implications or, to be more precise, in what we will leave behind in result of our escape. In order to discover that, he enters our homes, our safe havens, and starts working on the borderline of photography, painting and cataloging. He creates a collection.

Maciej Jeziorek invites us to reflect on what we take possession of, what we produce, what we gather and surround ourselves with, and what we will have to leave behind. And, in the end, what we will return to. At a time when we are about to face new threats, such as climate change, he encourages us to explore a broader, selfless context. So another escape seems inevitable, even though for now, it is going to be an escape from responsibility. […]

See the Behance page for the full text and more images.

The photo book and the poster for the exhibition were designed by Andrzej Dobosz of dobosz studio, using TT Ricks and Jabin. The concept and photographs are by Maciej Jeziorek / Napo Images. Marbling by Hanna and Tadeusz Jeziorek. The book includes Polish (not shown) and English text. Tomasz Bałdowski provided the translation, with corrections by Urszula Kifer. Tomasz Kubaczyk handled the pre-press, and Petit Lublin the printing and binding. The book was published by the Town and Commune Office of Września in 500 copies. ISBN: 78–83–917850–4–1