Warsaw in Lockdown

Words and Photography by Nina Żuk

MA Publishing

My name is Nina, I come from Poland and live in the suburbs of Warsaw.

I started shooting on film by accident – I found my parent’s old camera in our house and I thought why not give it a try. I fell in love with the colours, the textures, the suspense when you wait for a film to be developed and the uniqueness of having just a limited number of shots to take!

This mini-project was born quite spontaneously. I needed to get something done in the centre of town. It was a snowy day and I had some black and white film left on my camera. I used the chance and walked around the centre, photographing the famous buildings, as I realised I had never actually shot them before! This was in the middle of the day, but the streets were empty, the snow was falling and there was a very particular shade of grey-white light that’s only present when it snows. The light, the post-socialist buildings, and the empty streets, combined with the texture of the black and white film, which also happened to be a bit scratched, create a grim feeling in the images, which reflects everyone’s mood of starting another year with another lockdown.

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