Once tuberculosis was referred to as a dry-air disease or simply the romantic disease that afflicted the greatest artistic souls. Today, nothing dries the skin like air conditioning in an office in a high-rise building scraping the sky, or the confined spaces of a shopping mall, populated with colourful dreams, or a brand new car on a never-ending road to work. So, are we talking about searching for a remedy and a therapy, or maybe trying to break free from the death of the soul, which decays progressively, like the lungs of a consumptive? Is the unique climate of Góry Suche (pol. Dry Mountains) a destination itself or is it only a stop on the way to somewhere else, a more distant port of call?
There’s the clean, fresh air of the local micro-climate. The sound of crickets keep the starry sky company. Herbs from the backyard garden drying over the fireplace. And those endless repairs of the local road that keep getting destroyed by sudden downpours. Lifelong friendships with kindred spirits and even stronger dramas. A lack of peers in the neighbourhood for a growing-up son, and an even more acute lack of work that reflects in real changes in the bank account. Even if you take a gulp of air, you still might end up panting for breath.
Mateusz Kowalik is a documentary photographer from Poland. He focuses on long-term projects and his work is often rooted in his own experience, exploring issues of contemporary society. He has shown his work at four individual exhibitions in Poland and Slovakia, and graduated from the Sputnik Photos Mentoring Program. In 2018 he began studying at the University of Opava at the Institute of Creative Photography. All images are from his project Still Far Away From Paradise. Project text: Beata Bartecka.