Tomasz Gudzowaty, Shipwreckers

Tomasz Gudzowaty

Shipwreckers

I gallery floor, 09.02.06 - 31.03.06

The exhibition consists of 50 black and white pictures taken in 2004 in Bangladesh. Powerful images attracts our attention with a thoughtful composition of each frame.

Chittagong, the second largest city in Bangladesh, is known as one of the world’s most important scrapping centers for ships decommissioned after twenty-something years of naval service due to economical reasons.

The industry migrated from the developed countries to southern Asia, where labor is cheaper and where environmental and safety regulations are less strict. The so-called Chittagong “shipyard complex” actually consists of approximately ten kilometers of flat beaches and sand-banks where ships are stranded and, after any usable equipment is removed, broken down for their steel.

Dozens of thousands of people – the shipwreckers – are working there in hazardous conditions, without proper training and gear, using simple, manual tools, gas torches and primitive jacks. They live in barracks nearby the facilities they work in. Managers and security guards are the best-paid elite, but most workers earn only minimum wage and have no social protection. Nevertheless, Chittagong has become the magnet attracting people from the poorest northern provinces of the country, where hunger is a sad everyday reality.

The photographs presented here were taken in 2004 and 2005. Most of them can be found among 50 pictures in the „Shipwreckers” book, available at the Gallery’s bookstore.

Tomasz Gudzowaty

Born in Warsaw in 1971.

Graduate of the Law and Administration Department of the University of Warsaw.
Member, Polish Press Agency PAP.
Member, A.I.P.S. (Association internationale de la presse sportive).

Winner of many prestigious prizes and awards, among them:

World Press Photo 1999 – first prize, Nature and Environment category
World Press Photo 2000 – second prize, Nature and Environment category
World Press Photo 2003 – first prize, Sports – singles category
World Press Photo 2003 – second prize, Sports – stories category
Pictures of the Year International 2005 – Award of Excellence, Magazine Division / Feature Picture Story category
World Press Photo 2006 – third prize, Sports Feature Stories category
NPPA Best of Photojournalism 2006 – Honorable Mention, Sports Picture Story category
NPPA Best of Photojournalism 2006 – Honorable Mention, Best Published Story category
Grand Press Photo 2006 - third prize, Daily Life category
Humanity Photo Awards 2006 – Documentary Prize, Daily Life category
Humanity Photo Awards 2006 – Documentary Prize, Education, Recreation, Sports & Technology category
Pictures of the Year International 2007 – Award of Excellence, General Division / Sports Feature category
Pictures of the Year International 2007 – Award of Excellence, General Division / Sports Picture Story category
Grand Press Photo 2007 - second prize, Sports - singles category
Grand Press Photo 2007 - second prize, Sports - stories category
World Press Photo 2008 – third prize, Sports Features – singles category
Pictures of the Year International 2008 – first prize, Sports Portfolio category
NPPA Best of Photojournalism 2008 – first prize, Sports Enterprise category
NPPA Best of Photojournalism 2008 – Honorable Mention, Sports Picture Story category
Grand Press Photo 2008 - first prize, Sports - singles category
Grand Press Photo 2008 - second prize, Sports - singles category
Grand Press Photo 2008 - first prize, Sports - stories category
Grand Press Photo 2008 - Grand Prix, Picture of the Year

Tomasz Gudzowaty is represented by Yours Gallery and Focus Fotoagentur.

www.gudzowaty.com

Currently in Yours Gallery

I Floor: Wojtek Wieteska, curator Maja Kaszkur, 11.06.10-12.09.10