My name is Kamil Śleszyński. I am a self-taught documentary photographer based in Bialystok, Poland. I work on long-term projects that focus on the complex relationships between people.
I often photograph with a large-format camera. I liked using it for this work because it interested many of the people I photographed, as did the old style photographic techniques you had to use to operate the camera.
They had never seen such equipment. and it was a new experience for them which really helps a lot, and lessens the distance and unfamiliarity. On the other hand, I had a limited number of shots which made me have to concentrate and focus more on what I was doing.
About ‘Lost Place’:
‘Lost Place’ tells the story about Metanoia, the Catholic Centre for Education and Addiction Therapy. The facility helps young people addicted to drugs and alcohol.
Located in the Knyszynska Forest in Poland, it occupies the former administration building Agroma factories which, in the past, produced agricultural machinery, home appliances, and likely also weapons.
This is a place without an address, in the middle of the woods. The walls of the forgotten fabric make it so hard to see. Make it invisible.
This is the place, where some people have found their asylum. Without old thoughts, buddies and drugs.
This subject is a direct result of my previous project ‘Input/Output’, which consists of photographs made within prisons and a re-entry center that supports ex-prisoners. While working on it, it turned out that many of my subjects went to jail because of drugs or alcohol, and I wanted to get to the root of the problem.
