Joanna Rajkowska, Sebastian Cichocki – Psy z Üsküdar

Üsküdar Dogs consists of two elements: the photographs by Joanna Rajkowska and the text by Sebastian Cichocki. In 2009 Rajkowska and Cichocki met in Istanbul while working over a project for the city of Konya. During one of the walks they came across an Asian district called Üsküdar, which previously was used as a urban cemetery. What captured their special attention was a large pack of dogs lying calmly on the Muslim graves. As the authors report, the graves reminded them of the shelters for animals. The photographs had been taken during those walks, while the text of Cichocki, written afterwards, is an original curator’s reaction to her work of art. It is neither the comment on the photographs, nor the project, but an imaginary and sophisticated narrative. The result of the meeting between these two people is the book and the exhibition, which was held in ZPAF I S-ka Gallery for the first time.