Łukasz Rusznica: All Empires Will Fall

In his book “All Empires Will Fall”, Łukasz Rusznica refers to a deceptive sense of continuity, to the belief that, like the world, we will last forever. After all, we understand the past and have a future. 

Rusznica's deeply personal perspective - his experiences, ego, desire, relationships, memory, and art build an event horizon, a private empire. Although the author does not yet accept this, he knows it will disappear someday. In his photographs, plants, and people seem to be frozen on the border between night and dawn, in a liminal state - between the fragility and vitality of life.  

The artist uses the camera to imagine the future and record the time when he died. Alas, you are no longer alive either. There is no longer a human being. There is still biological life, which will also end one day - it will burn up with the explosion of the sun. Perhaps that is why the light in these photographs is muted as if it no longer has the strength.

As Rusznica himself writes: ‘There will be remnants left behind, traces of thoughts and needs. In the photographs I take, I am looking for a way to accept this state of affairs, to be strengthened by this thought, to work through the mourning for myself: since we are gone, nothing bad can happen. And if it's all gone, maybe it won't be so terrible after all? The image will escape the discipline of the human eye. There is no longer an eye. There is no human one.’ 

Title: All Empires Will Fall
Publisher: 1+1=3, 2024
Photographer:  Łukasz Rusznica
Format: Hardcover
Size: 28 x 21 cm, 160 Pages
ISBN: 9788397294004