Rafal Farbisz
- walkabout -
I WAS BORN IN POLAND. I graduated from the University of Wroclaw which was once for me a lovely city. My first job was in the industry but then I made a sea change and went abroad where I spent several years working in post-conflict and developing countries.
THIS BEGAN IN KOSOVO IN 2001 during election supervision organized by OSCE. Being equipped with a Nikon FG and an old 28 mm manual Nikon lens (both purchased in second hand photo store in Copenhagen) made me almost a second Robert Cappa. Yet at the time I was a very shy and inexperienced photographer. Moreover I only took with me 3 or 4 rolls of films as they were very expensive both in the developing and making of prints so every shot was at a premium (no reckless pressing of the shutter as in the digital age).
FLYING HIGH WITH A CHOPPER OVER THE HIGH CAUCASUS, that was my second assignment, on the border between Chechnya and Georgia. Wild at heart, with wilder weather conditions and not another soul in the surrounding 35 km aside from one man, a lonely shepherd who told me an interesting story of his life… >>read more>>
WHEN I DARED TO THINK THIS WAS TOO MUCH and too fast, the process of being sucked up into the maelstrom of world events only speeded up: the Rose Revolution, Abkhazia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan.
Next, two years working in Ingushetia, Ossetia and Chechnya was a time of escalating harshness with the Beslan massacre occurring just 10km from my office. Deeply imprinted on my memory are frequent journeys to Grozny which lived up to its name, in English meaning "fearsome" or "menacing". Most of the city's infrastructure was destroyed, including the sewage, waterworks, electricity and heating systems. Can you imagine big blocks of flats without utilities? One of my projects was water purification and delivery to 120 thousand people in Grozny (with PAH).
