Tori Ferenc – Motherland

Motherland is an intergenerational visual dialogue between photographers of the same family who never had the chance to meet. A photographic diary spanning centuries, it tells the story of a Polish family torn apart by conflict, personal trauma, addictions and untimely deaths.

Torn-out photographs, ghost children, war heroes on flowerbeds, dead people and shaky scribbles become part of a narrative that comes from an old family album. It is a treasured heirloom, passed down from generation to generation, along with anecdotes about the people in the photos. The details are forgotten and replaced by confused narrators who reinvent the stories each time they tell them.

It is also the sentimental journey of an emigrant returning to the country she left behind. Family pictures mingle with images of apple orchards, misty fields and stork nests, transporting the viewer to a place of endless summer and a seemingly idyllic home – tensions bubble beneath the surface.

A satellite exhibition of the PORTRAITS – Hellerau Photography Awards 2022 at Galerie nEUROPA.

A photo project by Tori Ferenc. The Polish-born documentary photographer deals in her work primarily with the themes of identity, community and parenthood. Tori Ferenc lives and works in London.

Curation: Jan Oelker

Gefördert von der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien