My first memories of Warsaw are those during which I visited my mortally ill brother, Marcinek. The visits took place in Warsaw’s hospital in 1994. My Brother was thirteen years old, and I was nine.
In a short time after the visit, Marcinek died. Before my Brother’s death, Warsaw was, for me, the city of unlimited hope. Nevertheless, since Marcinek’s death, Warsaw became a sort of apocalyptic place for me. This apocalyptic vision we can hear in David Bowie’s song “Warsaw.” Also, in Poland’s capital, many moments spent here are a reminiscence of the 1994 event. Since this tragic moment, Warsaw became the closest city to my heart.
In 1994, I believed that my Brother would survive. Paradoxically, it was faith directed to the city.
As a nine-year-old boy, I possessed a childish and naive belief that the miracle would occur. I believed that the city would heal my brother miraculously. Unfortunately, leukemia turned out to be stronger than the body of my thirteen-year-old Brother. Since then, the Polish capital has become, for me, on one side concrete, a soulless and apocalyptic fortress that took away the soulmate of my life. I see fragments of this hostile city on Zdzislaw Beksinski’s artworks. On the other hand, Warsaw paradoxically appears to me as a city of hope. Unfilled hope.
Warsaw became in my imagination the city where the human element is hidden among the walls.
For me, this city possesses a real soul, which survived its death. Warsaw, with its tragic history, often reminds me of the traumatic experiences of 1994. Sometimes I feel that I am the Warsaw. Practically all my moments spent here, in the Polish capital, with my family and friends, I will undoubtedly remember until the end of my life.
I hope that you understand, my Dear Guest, why I take photographs in this city. Warsaw is a very personal and intimate place for me. I hope that I will be able to create here until the end of my life.