The photographic method assumed by Dąbrowska is a reference to the way in which Zofia Rydet created her Sociological Record. The wide shot photographs expose a large piece of Poland behind their protagonists. Drawing on her experience as a photojournalist, the author describes the women and their worlds. These portraits transcend the limits of their category, some of them are practically genre scenes, while all of them provide an insight into the specific fabric of material culture that permeates the natural living environment of the contemporary Renata Dąbrowskas. Contrary to Rydet's total, but never finished, opus, the Gdańsk-based photographer manages to create an aptly directed whole.
Dąbrowska's project combined elements of documentary, identity studies, and post-conceptualism, and at the same time became an intense life experience for her. This explains the idea to include an appendix at the end of the book – printed on a different type of paper, it is a photographed notebook which the author used for documenting the process of searching for, discovering, and getting to know all the women, and arranging the photoshoots with them. This part could be treated as an unnecessary addition, however, it doesn't undermine the value of the album as a whole, which is positively one of the most interesting contemporary endeavours marrying photographic documents and artistic typology. Paradoxically, when trying to paint a portrait of herself, Dąbrowska created a poignant image of a modern Polish everywoman that is far from the stereotypical media representations.
photographs: Renata Dąbrowska
texts: Renata Dąbrowska, Jakub Knera, Grzegorz Przyborek
graphic design: Dawid Błażewicz (cover)
publisher: Renata Dąbrowska, Gdańsk
year of publication: 2012
volume: 230 pages
format: 20.6 x 30.3 cm
cover: hard cover, coated
print run: 1000
ISBN 978-83-935844-0-6
Original text: polishphotobook.tumblr.com, transl. Ania Micińska, June 2015