Marta Kiela-Czarnik. Siewki

You will find yourself in these images. Even if you think it’s not your cup of tea. Something will move you, hit the spot. Something will bring back a memory. The vein in the neck will start to pulsate harder. Words, quarrel, joke, prop will be recalled.

Marta Kiela-Czarnik photographs herself and her family. What have you got to do with it? You can take this series cognitively, factually, but don’t try to count all the family members. Also, don’t think that something is simply happening here, just like that. If they are not in the picture, are they there at all? You don’t know this, so don’t draw conclusions. You can see how others are doing. Perhaps you will recognize these things, the mess. Maybe you will smile when you see that it happens to others just as well. For decades. Only the equipment around changes. And the demands on parents.

I see honesty and courage here. These photos help me. I felt deep inside that these old myths about happy families, these photos promoting family breakfast do not suit me. Instead of thinking about a candy picture and getting frustrated, instead of reading textbooks about being better, more agile, more smiling, I skip what is the most important. This may not be the prettiest picture, it’s not something that could be posted on a Facebook page to make my high school friends boil with envy. But there is something more important here, something more real. When I look at these photos, I enter Martha’s house, and I am feeling better.

What about you?

What do you remember from your childhood, home, or maybe last week?