Doge's Palace / Venice / Italy /06.07.2019
We came to Venice for the International Art Exhibition. This year’s slogan was the Chinese proverb “May You Live In Interesting Times”.
Apart from the canals and gondoliers, the Doge’s Palace has always been a symbol of Venice for me. It is a place of glorious power at the height of the Venetian Republic, so well known that even those who have never been here know what it looks like, its distinctive architecture, its density of details, its art of decoration. I’ve always wanted to amble around St. Mark’s Square and stand in the shadow of the Doge’s Palace. And so it has transpired.
None of us expected all of Venice to be under water in three months’ time, that the biggest deluge in over 50 years would submerge and destroy Venice.
Gili Islands / Indonesia / 02.02.2006
We didn’t pay attention to the coaxing of our guide, urging us with a smile on his face to come back, that it was getting dangerous. How can it be dangerous on a deserted island in paradise, where the beach is unpeopled, the sun is shining and the sea invites you to take a dip. We’ve been here a few hours and nothing has changed. The weather is making us ever more relaxed. The wind held its breath and the sea grew calm. Idyllic. Tranquility. When the guide urged us once again to come back, the smile disappeared from his face. Above our heads the sky turned pitch dark. The sound of silence grew louder. It resonated in our heads like a bell after a heartbeat. The calm before the storm. The little boat we’d come in started dancing on the waves. Up and down, a wall of water, up and down, a wall of water. Our captain and guide no longer smiled. He was battling against the boiling sea as we fought our own fear. The water that had soothed us a moment ago was now terrifying, wanting to devour us. The beginning and end of life.
A newborn sea wolf, Julita Mańczak, holding the frame with the South China Sea.
Each photograph used during the journey stops being luggage, changes its destiny, takes on a new life. It creates a unique travel sack with a story in the background. Always just one. One shot, one sack. Luggage (no excess)
