Colonialist

2015
Photography, C-Print, 101.6 x 68.6 cm (40 x 27 in)
Amboro de Samaipata, Bolivia

Two angry tribal leaders face us in the photograph „Colonialist“. Holding their heads proudly high, adorned by feather headdresses, they look at us reproachfully. Are we the intruders that accidently set foot in their territory and became the voyeur of their private life?

The couple we see are Marcin and her partner, the architect Schrupp Rivero. Just like standing on an impounded island they are situated in the midst of the giant ferns in Bolivia’s Amboro Jungle. The state of being-a-couple as a sanctuary is ironically weighed in on – the paradigm of marriage depicted as a baroque, comfortable hideout to flee from the tough reality. If two individuals join the realm of one space, it becomes a jungle. Through blind commitments they begin to rule over each other. With the couple’s militant expressions this internal war of love gets externalized into a social gesture that implies the potential of other’s resistance. The need to defend their world, blocks the entrance for others.

By placing herself and her life partner into Bolivia’s Amboro Jungle dressed like tribal leaders, Marcin questions the western ideology of partnership and reflects critically on ongoing stereotypes of human distinction and alleged otherness. By using the image of ruling over an opaque jungle, the photograph “Colonialist” refers to interpersonal and social power structures.