Tomasz Machciński – Album

A visual essay created over several decades, in which the meaning and visual relations between images and the microhistory created in this way matter more than chronology. Main prize in the Album and Catalog category at the Polish Graphic Design Awards.

“Album” by Tomasz Machciński is a graphically and substantively prepared reproduction of a unique photo album. It is one of the most interesting artefacts in the artist’s archive. It is a visual essay made at home over several decades (1966-2006). What counts is the relationship (semantic and visual) between the images and the micro-stories created in this way.

The pages of the “Album” are designed carefully – their classic compositions sometimes bring to mind medieval altar triptychs with a central protagonist, towards whom the figures from the side wings turn. At other times, the monotonous, rhythmic patterns are more like the poetics of police records or scientific taxonomies. The photos themselves are “recovered” working material – test prints, which he used in the process of selecting the best shots before developing large-format photographs.

The pages of the “Album”, which are a faithful reproduction of the original pages, are accompanied by a large text section containing critical texts by Agata Pyzik and Anke Kempkes.

Tomasz Machciński’s album is part of a long-term project to develop the artist’s archive financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.