The book , “As far as I remember…” based on a family story, is a story about nostalgia, home, about stopping. It is a story about human identity and the search for truth in the context of forgetting.
Book description:
Handmade book, bound in raw gray cardboard. On the front blocked square shape in the size of a photo for an ID card. It became the starting point for conversations and my personal research into the history of the place where my father grew up. Until I was 25, I didn’t know what my grandfather looked like. I had never seen photos or heard any stories. At home, among family members, we don’t talk about the past, we rarely reminisce. My dad’s native village is a place currently inhabited by five people. In a world of constant documentation of reality, this settlement, devoid of images, came to life again thanks to photography. An important factor in the process of designing the publication was the balance between different types of photography – vernacular, archival and contemporary – in order to convey one coherent story. The two languages of word and image, generally found side by side in publications, here are equal. An attempt to break down this barrier became the basis of the project.
About the author:
Aneta Zdziech – visual artist, designer. She specializes in editorial graphics. A graduate of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, she received her diploma with rector’s distinction from the Department of Graphic Design. Works multidisciplinarily; bases her projects on research and complex storytelling. Socially engaged, likes to ask questions. Project Coordinator. She assisted in the Studio of Book Design and Digital Publishing at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Member of the Eastern Studio Association and the SITO Screen Printing Studio. Currently cooperates with the Center for Social Archiving, among others.
The book is a graduation project created in the editorial graphics studio of Dr. Marek Knap at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. It was awarded in the FNC’s compilation, Best Thesis of Graduates of Polish Art and Design Universities in 2021.
Currently, the book exists in the form of hand-sewn mock-ups. After the thesis defense, copies “wandered” around local villages, where they received a warm reception and great interest as to its purchase. Unfortunately, private printing is so costly that it did not come to fruition. I would like to provide such an opportunity for the book to become widely available, especially to people in smaller villages who are close to the topics I discuss in it.
