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Zbigniew Libera, Magdalena Sztandara
see the reality. Here, the photographs do not represent reality—they are reality (see
for examples: August Sander, FSA, Family of Man, or Zofia Rydet). In the next
type of practice, that is looking “on”, the photo is a medium of communication
and it is synonymous with the interpretation. It leads to an understanding of the
image and its meaning. The third type concerns photographs as reflections of the
sociocultural contexts in which they were taken. However the photographs do not
reflect here the materiality of the world but rather rules and cultural patterns; they
reconstruct perceptions of reality by the people who have taken them. Hence, the
question is: what can we see looking “through”, “on”, and “behind” the album of
ethnographers from the field?
Looking “through” the photographs, one probably sees the same details that
Aaron Schuman saw while preparing the exhibition—ethnographers at work.
Dressed in modern clothing, equipped with notebooks, pencils, cameras, micro¬
phones, and recording equipment, they are driving around in trucks, observing
and describing the artefacts of material culture. Researchers seem to follow the
example of Malinowski: they talk with or, rather, interview the villagers standing in
front of their houses, sitting on the stairs or a bench; they look, listen, write, draw,
take photos, and even “fraternize” with the “natives”. What is most important, as
Schuman emphasises, is their devotion to and sacrifice for work:
‘They are focusing all of their attention on the cultural customs, traditions, ma¬
terials, origins, and so on that are receding into history; the traditional cos¬
tumes, the horse-drawn carriages, the ancient, hand-crafted tools, technolo¬
gies and art, and so on—they are preserving what may potentially be lost as
contemporary modernity (from where they come) encroaches on these regions,
cultures, and communities.
It may be argued that the ethnographers make commemorative photos dur¬
ing the expeditions by capturing their work in the field. However, one cannot
consider these specific photographs without their functions and their cultural and
institutional contexts. What then can one see by looking “on” and “behind” this
photographic album of “being there”?
First of all, these photographs become representations of narrative sequences of
ethnographers about themselves, kept according to romantic and realistic conven¬
tions. These conventions were strongly associated with a program of ethnography
at that time (sentiment, authenticity, salvage). As can be seen in accounts from
those years, some of the participants and organizers strongly and deeply believed
in these ideas.
In the face of new events and new reality, the distance between hitherto igno¬
rant peasant and the University student have become blurred. ...Finally, the