news

Unusual, interesting, touching – these are comments of people who saw “Colours of Orthodoxy. Poland”. The exhibition took place in Centre of Orthodox Culture in Bialystok, Poland. The organizers presented 200 photos by 57 authors. The pictures show places which are important to Orthodox believers from Poland and people connected with Polish Orthodox Church.

„I rave about the variety of approaches to Orthodoxy, people on their knees and their everyday lives, wonderful landscapes. You can find here photos which amaze you with unusual light, present different seasons and various frames.” – This is how Marek Dolecki (who takes photos of Orthodox events for years) commented on the exhibition. Ewa, a Roman Catholic who had been invited to the exhibition by her friend, was impressed by the richness of colours in the pictures. “As a graphic designer I can see here unusual motifs and interesting ideas. In addition, the portraits of people are incredible. For example the portrair of a smiling priest walking down the road is fantastic – the priest seems to be so close to the ordinary people.” Irena Minkiewicz, an OrthPhoto user and a person who visited all of the three exhibitions organized by orthPhoto.net, says that everyone who wants to learn something about Orthodoxy in Poland and its traditions should visit this exhibition. Barbara Wojciuk supports this opinion and comments further on the photos: “It certainly makes a strong impression on you. The photos are beautiful and they express what is inside our souls.”

The arrangement of the photos on the display is also incredible. The background for the photos was inspired by the motif and colours of church flags and it was the idea of Grzegorz Nazaruk.

The exhibition was opened under the honorary patronage of the president of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski. “The president’s patronage shows how the president treats the citizens. Orthodox people have been citizens of Poland for ages and they greatly contributed to Polish culture – says Aleksander Sosna, the president’s advisor. This fact is also highlighted by the great number of authors of these photos. This exhibition does not show photos of one author or solely Orthodox photographers but it consists of pictures by many people who are fascinated by Orthodox faith. The authors show how they see Orthodox faith through camera lens and through their hearts. This is the most important quality of this exhibition.”

The organizers of the exhibition received a blessing of the head of Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church, His Holiness Sava, Metropolitan Archbishop of Warsaw and Poland.

Moreover, the visitors to the vernisage saw a film by Jerzy Kalina “Orthodoxy in Poland” as well as Roman Wasilku’s video clips which present life of Orthodox church in Poland. Musical backgroung for the exhibition consisted of a set of Orthodox chants compiled and prepared by Jan Smyk. Among 200 people who attended the event were representatives of the local government: Maciej Tefelski, Marek Masalski, Włodzimierz Kusak and Sławomir Nazaruk.

The exhibition was organized thanks to support of the Orthodox Publishing House in Warsaw, Bialystok City Council, Foundation “Dialogue of the Nations”, Foundation “Oikonomos” and Cooperative Bank in Brańsk.

“Colours of Orthodoxy. Poland”is the third exhibition of photos taken by users of www.OrthPhoto.net. It is still open (free of charge) until 25th of November, 2011. It is available every day between 8a.m and 8 p.m in Orthodox Cultural Center in Bialystok (Św. Mikolaja 5). Subsequently, the exhibition is to tour Poland and the world. If you would like to host the exhibition in your town, please, contact us via e-mail. (info@orthphoto.net).

Katarzyna Popławska (translated by Anna Bondaruk)

more photos: http://exhibition.orthphoto.net/index.php?id_n=92