Altars could be perceived as a subjective vision of Poland by Agnieszka Sejud. The photographs making up the cycle have emerged as a result of the photographer’s reflection on the condition of her homeland. The altar has become the leading metaphor, referring to a superficial religiousness dominated by plastic and kitsch, but most of all – by selfishness. In Sejud’s distorting mirror, everybody is praying for their own altar, thinking in the short term and looking after their own interests.

Once famous for hospitality, Poland is being devoured by xenophobia. This is why the people living in this strange land between the West and East are increasingly entrenched in their positions. They nostalgically return to the times of Poland’s might, but the myth turns out to be an empty shell that cannot be filled up with meaning by t-shirts bearing patriotic slogans made in China. Let us not forget that Poles are masters of makeshift solutions. Perhaps nobody will notice these small imperfections in the national outfit, tombac will become gold and terrazzo – marble?

Agnieszka Sejud (b. 1991) is a photographer and visual artist. She lives and works in Wrocław. Although she graduated in Law from the University of Wrocław, she has not become a lawyer. She studied photography at the Creative Arts Centre in Wrocław, and now she is developing her photographic skills at the Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic. She experiments with photography and uses in her practice a wide range of the medium – from documentary photographs to portraits and fashion, to photo manipulation and collage. Everyday life is her primary source of inspiration.