Photography Project Research

As part of my Photography Project, I decided to take a set of photographs showing Poles in Great Britain. I picked this topic because, as a Polish immigrant and history lover, I have always been fascinated by Polish emigration phenomenon. It has a lot to do with my nation's history and the many wars we have had over the past few centuries with Germany and Russia. During my research I found hundreds of old photographies from over the world, who shows Polish immigrants, usually on ships, in ports, at train stations or even at work.

Polish refugees By Theodore Koch (1920)

My next step was to focus on Polish emigration in the UK and search for photographs directly related to it and I found work of photographer Czeslaw Siegieda, son of Polish Immigrants, who was born in Leicestershire in 1954. He usually made photographs of important celebrations and fetes of the Polish community in Leicestershire. (czeslawsiegieda.co.uk., 2017) “I wanted to focus on simple things and scenes that would tell a personal story about the spirit of a people and of a nation who would not be broken either by war or occupation.” (Siegieda, 2020). However, the subject matter of his works is not very interesting to me, because I am not a big fan of Polish folklore and religious traditions, so I decided to look for other photographers dealing with this topic.

Polish family, Loughborough (1976) By Czeslaw Siegieda

However, the subject matter of his works is not very interesting to me, because I am not a big fan of Polish folklore and religious traditions, so I decided to look for other photographers dealing with this topic. During further research, I discovered an album that included photographs of Polish immigrants in the United States at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They are created in the studio in the traditional style of the time, often with a variety of accessories and backgrounds (Wendt Jensen and Learman, 2014). Below I have pasted one of the photos from "Portrait studios of Detroit's Polonia: the face of Polish immigration".

Michael Luszczyk & friend (1924) By Władysław Jakubowski

I really like the idea of taking photos in a studio, using props such as a chair. In my project I will try to refer to portraits of Polish immigrants from the early 20th century, but I will try to give them my own style. Furthermore, to avoid distracting viewers, I will use a black background and try to create photos that are more simple and raw.

References:

Siegieda, C. (2020). Polska Britannica. 1st ed. RRB Photobooks.

Siegieda, C. (2017). Czesław Siegieda Documentary Photographer. [online] czeslawsiegieda.co.uk. Available at: https://czeslawsiegieda.co.uk/ [Accessed 22 Jan. 2024].

Wendt Jensen, C. and Learman, H. (2014). Portrait studios of Detroit’s Polonia : the face of Polish immigration. Orchard Lake, Mich.: Polish Mission Of The Orchard Lake Schools.