TITLE: Brooch

Each of us carries a history. Not just that of their own. We bare a trace of events lived by our ancestors. A history of our grandfather, grandmother, parents. A series of accidental and intentional events. Consequences of that stay with us and bind our past with our present like a brooch. What is the shape of that jewellery of our life and will it remain with us forever in the same place and form? What does that family jewel look like?
My grandfather met my grandmother at school. Both of them were teachers. They got married very fast. Małgorzata - my mother was born, but grandmother died. Grandfather could not handle a small daughter well. He got married again. This time it was a marriage of convenience. After a few years he passed as well, leaving his second wife with two small kids.
Looking at my mother today, eighty year old woman, I can see how she fights consequences of that events all her life. Traces of that family history are imprinted in my life as well. They are like a family brooch, passed from generation to generation.

AUTHOR: Iwona Germanek (Poland)

Graduated from Fotoedukacja in Katowice and AFA School of Photography in Wrocław. Member of the Society of Polish Photography Artists (ZPAF). Currently studying at the Silesian University of Opava, as well as teaching in MDK Łaziska Górne, where the Alternative Photography studio was created on her initiative. She led workshops in TIF Centre in Wrocław (collodion process) as well as in Basic Vocational School in Racibórz (collodion process, cyanotype). Participant of many exhibition, i.e. Festival of alternative and old photography techniques.