cry of an echo
Miriam Edmunds on artist Małgorzata Stankiewicz’s photography work cry of an echo, made the Białowieża primeval forest, in Poland.
As part of the Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography, the Polish photographer Małgorzata Stankiewicz presents her photography series cry of an echo, taken in the Białowieża primeval forest, at Photoforum Pasquart. The work consists of 46 photographs presented as blow-ups of the original silver gelatin prints.
The Białowieża primeval forest extends over an area of about 1,500 square kilometres and covers nowadays the Polish-Belarusian border area. More than 20,000 animal species live in the Białowieża, including the European bison, which is otherwise almost completely extinct. The old forest has been a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site since 1979. Some parts of the forest are therefore subject to strict protection regulations. On the Belarusian side, the entire forest area is a natural reserve; on the Polish side it is only 15 percent. The core zone, the strictly protected part, may only be entered with a guide. Here, the forest is allowed to flourish without human intervention.
The parts of the forest that are not within the national park are controlled by three state-owned ranger stations. In spring 2016, Poland’s right-wing conservative government decided that 188,000 cubic meters of timber would be cut in the Białowieża primeval forest between 2012 and 2023. This included areas that had previously been under strict protection.
Officially, the logging was justified by the then Minister of Environment Jan Szyszko with a bark beetle plague. The felling of the trees would serve environmental protection and prevent a much more far-reaching destruction of the Białowieża. It may be speculated that it was not the protection of the forest, but rather the potential profit that the state could generate by cutting and selling the timber that was at the forefront of the politicians’ minds.
The area in the immediate vicinity of the Białowieża primeval forest is agricultural and sparsely populated. The advancing forest and the increasing protection regulations make it difficult to work in agriculture. Therefore, forestry is the most viable livelihood option and provides employment for many people. The forest is a resource and environmental protection is secondary. The national conservative government is taking advantage of this and is trying to further weaken the protection of the forest with the help of the local population.
Shortly after the announcement of the logging permit by the Polish Minister of Environment, Małgorzata Stankiewicz travelled to Poland to volunteer in the Białowieża National Park for a month. When she found time, she photographed and documented the forest. cry of an echo is a record of this experience, but not a documentary. The photographs are expressive and abstract — they reflect how it feels to see something so special and unique disappear.
In the exhibition at Photoforum Pasquart, viewers are immersed in the rich environment of the Białowieża primeval forest, while in the background a sound piece composed by the artist herself announces the impending doom. One hears birdsong — a reference to the forest’s diverse fauna — and a quiet, eerie melody, as a harbinger of impending destruction.
Stankiewicz intervened massively in her photographs through masking, chemical processing, uneven development, bleaching, and retouching. Some images have a sickly-looking green cast. Others are so bleached out that the image content disappears into nothingness. Trees are erased by overpainting. Nature disappears behind the human intervention from the image carrier. Through this treatment, Stankiewicz visualizes the deforestation of the forest on an artistic level as well. The photographs not only show the destruction of the Białowieża primeval forest, but also stand for it metaphorically: similarly to the ecosystem of the forest, the surface of the image is fragile and can be easily changed, altered, and destroyed through manipulation.
Stankiewicz’s photographs are haunting and quietly point to the perceived pain of the impending loss of the Białowieża primeval forest. cry of an echo is a very emotional and personal work that expresses Stankiewicz’s dismay. By reminding us the fragility of nature and the very real consequences of selfish human activity, it asks us to reconsider our own place in protecting nature and its resources.
In 2018, the European Court of Justice declared the logging illegal and ordered the Polish government to immediately revoke the permit. Despite this ruling, Poland has still not officially withdrawn the decree allowing logging in the Białowieża…
cry of an echo is presented at Photoforum Pasquart from 7 to 30 May 2021 as part of the 24th edition of the Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography.
