IMAGO By Zuza Krajewska
- Words
- Sarah Press
For her series titled ‘IMAGO’, Polish photographer and filmmaker Zuza Krajewska visited a borstal located in the town of Studzieniec near Warsaw. Her pictures show young convicts between childhood and adulthood, guilty of anything from petty theft to more serious crimes.
‘IMAGO’ is an entomological term of Lativ derivation, which means an adult insect, the final stage of the development of the species. The artist gives a certain feeling of freedom and trust to the boys, who might have abused power in the past. The boys are photographed individually, in some cases together or spontaneously. On one hand the occupants seem childish, clumsy and innocent, on the other noticeable adult, as if they had experienced life. With their skinny necks, smooth skin and dressed in oversized clothes, their bodies still belong to those of kids. The series show also much of their everyday surroundings and the interactions between the young boys. Krajewska, one of the best Polish photographers, doesn’t look down on her models or judge them in any way. Instead she sees her own mistakes and fears in them. In her imagination we all stay teenagers who only pretend to be adults forever.
