Celebrated 'Solidarity photographer' Erazm Ciolek dies
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
14.11.2012 12:04
Erazm Ciolek, one of the most acclaimed chroniclers of Poland's Solidarity trade union during the 1980s, has died in Warsaw at the age of 75.
Erazm Ciolek: photo - PAP/Andrzej Rybczynski (archive)
Ciolek was often the only professional Polish photographer present at meetings of key opposition activists during the 1980s.
He attended the seminal August 1980 strike led by Lech Walesa at the Gdansk shipyard, without clearance from any editorial office, and with little hope of publishing his pictures in official media outlets.
“I wanted to show what couldn't be found in official publications,” he later reflected in an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
“I had to capture this reality on the negatives,” he said.
Ciolek published scenes from the strike – and many other events – in underground publications such as Przeglad Wiadomosci Agencyjnych.
He was also one of the creators of the underground Niezalezna Oficyna Wydawnicza (Independent Publishing House) photo service.
Ciolek was decorated many times following the collapse of communism in Ppland in 1989. In 2009, Culture Minister Bodgan Zdrojewski awarded him the ministry's highest honour – the gold medal 'Gloria Artis'. (nh/pg)
See Ciolek's work at his official web site here