Arts & Culture

The Sound of Two Songs

Mark Power's 5-year investigation into the impact of the European Union on Poland

Mark Power

Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs Warsaw, Poland. October, 2006. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs New Shopping Centre in former mining community. Zabrze, Silesia, Poland. October, 2004. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs Zabrze, Upper Silesia, Poland. October, 2004. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs Rzeszow, Poland. December, 2004. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs Death of Pope John Paul II. Watching the Popes funeral on large video screens, broadcast live from the Vatican. Warsaw, Poland. April, 2005. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs View from Palace of Culture. Warsaw, Poland. January, 2006. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs A lake close to the city of Krakow.

Kryspinow, Poland. August, 2009. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs Milik, Poland. December, 2004. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs The day Pope John Paul II died. Warsaw, Poland. April, 2005. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs Warsaw, Poland. September, 2004. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs Abandoned theme park. Chorzow, Upper Silesia, Poland.

October, 2004. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs Warsaw, Poland. February, 2005. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs Krakow, Poland. December, 2006. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs Shipyard. Gdansk, Poland. November, 2004. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs Pobierowo, Poland. September, 2008. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Mark Power | The Sound of Two Songs Warsaw, Poland. February, 2005. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos

Mark Power began his work in Poland in September 2004 as part of a group project instigated by Magnum Photos in Paris: Ten photographers were commissioned to spend a month in one of the countries set to join the European Union that same year.

However, Power believed that his initial investigations in Poland only scraped the surface of a country approximately the same physical size as the other nine new EU members added together.

Over the next five years, as Power worked on the project, his focus inevitably shifted from an investigation into the effects of European Union membership into a more subjective, poetic and autobiographical response to a country he grew to love. However, it is still a place seen by a foreigner, an outsider; a position Power has resolutely maintained.

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