The Whisperers

PHOTOGRAPHY

May 9

For his project ‘The Whisperers’, Polish photographer Kuba Kaminski documented elderly women who believe they posses a gift from God. They live in small villages in the East of Poland, where they treat people in their houses to heal them from diseases and physical pain.

Photography Kuba Kaminski

Whisperers are people who believe they posses a gift from God, giving them the power to heal all kinds of diseases and physical pain. They claim that they are also able to throw spells and charms and free people from evil possession.

The name probably came from the way they treat their believers, whispering special prayers into their ears. At least that's the best known explanation because the few last Whisperers in Poland, use little different techniques. Whisperers are most of all elder women. They live in small villages in Podlasie area in the eastern part of Poland. They derive from the Orthodox church but today the church don't want to recognise them, cutting itself from that kind of practices. They treat patients all day in their houses or special blessed places few kilometres away from the villages they live in. Most of them don't take any money for their seance saying that their are obligated before God to do this. Whisperers have their regular patients from the nearby villages and people from all parts of Poland sometimes even the world.

They have been a part of the local culture for hundreds of years in Podlasie, land of mysticism and symbols that dictate the rhythm of life for many people living there.

“Whisperers are people who believe they posses a gift from God, giving them the power to heal all kinds of diseases and physical pain.”

“From the beginning I wanted to give a feeling of uncertainty. To show the region of Podlasie as a mystical place. To give a proper background for Whisperers. I always want to live my story. Get lost in it, in its madness. I don't want my story to be received literally. I want the viewer to have a chance to live it. And I think of my audience as people who are eager to feel something and think by themselves better then be led through, from the beginning to the end my their hand. I like to clash my imagination with reality and see what happens. Traveling through the villages of Podlasie I observed the nature for signs and let myself be guided by chance but always having an image of the whole story in my head.”

“They treat patients all day in their houses or special blessed places few kilometers away from the villages they live in.”

“Most of them don't take any money for their seance saying that their are obligated before God to do this.”

About Kuba

Kuba Kaminski is a Polish documentary photographer born in 1985 in Warsaw. He studied at the Lodz Film School and has been working as professional photographer for daily newspapers until 2012. Kuba currently works for the Polish Press Agency and European Photopress Agency and he worked on assignments across Europe, Asia, Africa, the US and South America.

To see more Kuba’s work visit his website or follow him on Instagram.

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JC Verona

The Whisperers

For his project ‘The Whisperers’, Polish photographer Kuba Kaminski documented elderly women who believe they posses a gift from God. They live in small villages in the East of Poland, where they treat people in their houses to heal them from diseases and physical pain.

“Whisperers are people who believe they posses a gift from God, giving them the power to heal all kinds of diseases and physical pain.”

“They treat patients all day in their houses or special blessed places few kilometers away from the villages they live in.”

“Most of them don't take any money for their seance saying that their are obligated before God to do this.”

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