Tomasz Liboska | Turn Round

Tomasz Liboska is a documentary photographer residing in Upper Silesia, Poland. The region once thrived on coal and steel, and smokestacks and remnants of industry loom in the town’s image. Liboska’s long-term photographic project and his everyday life are intertwined. He rides through the neighborhoods on his bicycle, photographing everyday scenes in the region (starkly, but not without affection.)

The pace when shooting by bicycle is brisk enough to move through many places in a day. But it’s also slow enough for him to stop and relate to people, and to notice everything… like the pieces of pleather peeling from the back of the very worn jacket in front of him. The image is arresting; the jacket is pressed up so closely to the foreground that there’s nothing else to do but examine the state of things. I must confront this jacket. And in doing so, I also consider the life of the boy who wears it.

Many of the colors are muted into a resigned, beige-grey haze. This makes it all the more exciting when shots of color cut into the project in a few surprising moments. Salmon-colored smoke curls above the power lines. A red tram runs through the dusk, and it’s coming right at you. Again, he puts the viewer into the engaging position of a direct confrontation.

I don’t think that many other talented photographers could, or would have made the same pictures here. Liboska’s stamp is on them. It’s a gem of a project, and there’s an unusual veracity to this portrait of the place. The good news is that Turn Round is ongoing, and you can watch it unfurl over here on his instagram.

- Lisa