Ryszard Kapuściński, in La Virreina
“The decline of the empire” presents photographs of the former Soviet Union taken by the Polish reporter and can be seen from the 23rd of September to the 23rd of November
The Virreina Centre de la Imatge presents Ryszard Kapuściński. The decline of the empire, an exhibition of photographs of the former Soviet Union taken by the famous Polish photographer. The majority of the photographs date from the period 1989-1991 and were found a few years ago among the reporter’s archives. An exhibition had already been planned and the photographer had already selected a number of prints and their corresponding frames.
The selection for the current exhibition, The decline of the empire, however, is not only Kapuściński’s, and the photographers chosen prints are included alongside photographs selected by Izabela Wojciechowski, chief editor of the Photography Department of the Polish Press Agency and curator of the reporter’s photographic legacy. As an example, it is thanks to Wojciechowski that visitors will be able to see the photographs taken by the reporter in his native city, Pinsk, in what is now Belarus, when he returned there in 1979. The original exhibition consisting of the Kapuściński and Wojciechowski selections contains a total of 50 prints and opened in Warsaw in 2010.
The exhibition in the Virreina Centre de la Imatge, in Barcelona, includes 36 of the original 50 selected photographs. Against the background of the now disappeared Soviet Union, the exhibition emphasises both the artistic quality of Kapuściński’s eye and his ability and talent for dissecting the numerous conflicts of the time. The exhibition forms part of the series Europe 25 which commemorates 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
A multidisciplinary writer whose genres included journalism, essays and poetry, Kapuściński reported on conflicts in various continents, though he is remembered above all for his work in Africa. He is the author of The Shadow of the Sun and Another Day of Life.
The exhibition Ryszard Kapuściński. The decline of the empire can be seen from the 23rd of September to the 23rd of November in the Virreina Centre de la Imatge. Entry is free and more information is available here.