Closer to nature
Life in a big city and intense contact with nature do not usually go together. Usually, city-slickers do not have many occasions to spend time in the great outdoors. However, human lust for the natural world has always been a part of our culture. It has been influencing literary works, art, philosophy, religions for centuries and, more recently, the cinema. The belief that time spent in nature can heal us, ease our fears, give us solace and support a harmonious life has been cultivated for thousands of years.
The exhibited photographs depict one of the ways people can feel one with nature. Individuals featured in this photo essay came to a small village of Przesieka, situated on the southwestern edge of Poland, from different parts of the globe. They were searching for inner harmony, strength, and health through contact with the breathtaking and raw wilderness of the Western Sudetes mountains. With her photographic lens, Anna Gondek-Grodkiewicz captured the followers of the Wim Hof method who enjoyed ice baths and casually lay naked in the snow.
The photographs were previously published in the Polish edition of National Geographic in 2020.
Visit the photographer's website
Photo: Anna Gondek-Grodkiewicz
Photo: Anna Gondek-Grodkiewicz
Wim Hof’s cold therapy
Wim Hof, a Dutch extreme athlete got his nickname “The Iceman” by breaking several records in exposure to cold — he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro wearing nothing but shorts and shoes; he ran barefoot a half marathon above the Arctic Circle, and he spent 112 mintues in a barrel filled with ice cubes. In 2000, he set the Guinness World Record for the farthest swim under ice, by covering a distance of 57.5 meters. And as if that was not enough, he ran a full marathon in the Namib Desert without a drop of water.
When Hof was seven, he experienced hypothermia – he played outside in winter and fell asleep in the snow. When he was 17, he was taking a winter walk and felt a sudden urge to dive into the freezing water of an Amsterdam canal. That moment “The Iceman” was born. Since then, he has exposed his body to extreme temperatures countless times. Through extensive training, he has learned to control his breathing, heart rate, and blood circulation, and to withstand extreme temperatures. He believes that anyone can learn what he has learned. Therefore, he developed the Wim Hof Method — a combination of breathing, cold therapy, and commitment practice based on Buddhist Tummo meditation — which he teaches to people across the world.
The small village of Przesieka and the nearby waterfall have been a mecca for extreme temperature enthusiasts for many years. Wim Hof owns a house in the village and hosts seven-day winter expeditions to the mountains for his followers.
More than pretty pictures
There is a joy and a sense of unity in those photographs. Some emanate deep focus and contemplation. How is it possible not to feel the overwhelming cold, not to shiver all over or not to pace nervously? The subjects portrayed in Anna Gondek-Grodkiewicz’s works challenge nature in an arrogant manner. Perhaps, in a way they challenge themselves? Maybe arrogance is not the right word? There is no anger in those faces, but strength. The pain has hidden at the bottom of their clear eyes. We can see they are no strangers to pain and we can also see that they exert power over it. There is something primal in their tenacious looks.
dr Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka, Ph.D. / Assistant Professor
Artistic Director of School of Form, Dean of the SWPS University’s Faculty of Design in Warsaw
Future of photography
Additional events aligned with the exhibition include a panel discussion on the future of photography, which will take place on October 13, 2022, at 18:00. The panelists include renowned Polish photographers, Tomasz Tomaszewski and Tomek Sikora, Anna Gondek-Grodkiewicz, the author of the exhibited photographs, and Beata Łyżwa-Sokół, the Head of the Photo Department at Gazeta Wyborcza (one the biggest daily newspapers in Poland). The discussion will be moderated by Paweł Gołębski, a presenter from the local radio station, Radio RAM.
The panel will be held in Polish.
Visit the exhibition
Date: October 3–15, 2022
Location: Concordia Design, Wyspa Słodowa 7, Wrocław
Currently, the exhibition is also on display at the Jaou Tunis biennale. In 2023, the exhibition will visit Paris, Warsaw, Bielsko-Biała and Rzeszów.
Contact
Anna Gondek-Grodkiewicz
e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.