Lain decades in the attic. New life of old photographs – BiałystokOnline.pl

More than 900 photos of two photographers from Podlasie: George Kostko of Kleszczele and John Siwicki of Jaczne has been made available on the albom.pl. Their achievements went to the Association for Cultural Education View.

Photos: Materials Association View

One of the photos John Siwicki

The Association is engaged in rescue and popularization of archival photographs from the region of Podlasie in the project “Wiejscy photographers from Podlasie – development and digitization private collections.” Photos of George Kostko View team pulled out of sawdust in the attic of the house where he lived during the “Photographic archeological expedition to the Polish – Belarusian border region” in 2013. A box of glass negatives of John Siwicki a few decades it lay in the attic during the renovation until the family decided to do something about it. I forwarded it to the photographer of view.

After five months of maintenance, scanning, digital signal processing effects can be seen on the albom.pl. In total, more than 900 digitized negatives – 252 Siwicki, 657 cubes. Faces, group portraits, weddings, funerals, documentation of building a house. Most come from years of war – 40s and 50s, but there are also negatives older, pre-war.

– If we could save all the achievements of cubes, it would be a sensation, not only in Polish, but even Europe – says Grzegorz Dabrowski View, photographer and conservator negatives. – Kostko was a craftsman and a photo regarded as a way of earning a living. He did so artistic landscapes, just doing “head” to documents, but expertly and passionately. Through his atelier Scroll probably all the people who lived in Kleszczele in the years 1926-1976.

– In its preserved heritage, in my opinion, the most valuable are pictures of funerals – says Artur Gaweł, ethnographer, Head of Bialystok Village Museum. – Open the coffin in front of the house, the children affecting the interest of the deceased, seriousness, but also peace of mind. So now funerals does not celebrate or photographs. The pictures are also a great documentation of the workshop small-town photographer.