Posmaki diachronii. Przeszłość i fotografia na Podkarpaciu

Abstract

The article concerns the problem of the relation between the function of family photos in the culture of Subcarpathian, rural communities, and the ways of organizing time there. The author reconstructs the history of bottom-up photographic practices and shows their relations with the processes of modernization. He describes how economic and social changes were associated with fluctuations in the form and functions of vernacular pictures. He is also interested in contemporary ways of using old photographs. The article proves that initiatives such as local digital archives are important forms of preserving the local identity and popularizing tradition. Nevertheless, the basic aim of the article is to define the place of vernacular photography in the process of creating contemporary constructions of the past and present. Based on ethnographic field research conducted in one of the communities near Rzeszów, the author proves that photos can become a link between two types of the past and tradition – experienced as a pattern and interpreted as a text. As such, they are a form of dynamic mediators that cope with long-lasting and radical cultural change.