Description
Cry of an echo by Malgorzata Stankiewicz
This is the winning book at Unseen Dummy Award 2017.
For centuries, and against all odds, Polandʼs Białowieża Forest withstood the barbarian human behaviour within its grounds yet back in 2016, under the pretence of its protection, the new Polish Environment Minister Jan Szyszko has approved a large-scale logging in the Forest’s unprotected zone. When so much is being said about the environment in recent years, and our exigent and much-overdue need to protect it, Europe’s last primeval forest is being slain while the world seems to look away.
Cry of an echo is my protest, my personal voice of opposition, the images a metaphor for my torment. It is my silent shout. Malgorzata Stankiewicz
The images, which have been shot on film during a month-long residency as a volunteer at the Białowieża National Park in Spring 2016, are scans of silverprint enlargements that were intentionally mistreated by masking, uneven development, chemical contamination and severe bleaching. I have also worked with India Ink, which is often used for retouching negatives, in attempt to retouch out parts of the images, mostly the trees.