Zbigniew Libera THE GAY, INNOCENT AND HEARTLESS

Zbigniew Libera’s book ingludes a series of photographs featuring scenes with guerrillas made in several photographic sessions. The series also comprises the phonographs of texts, either quoted from others or written by the artists himself. Its almost iconic representations of posing guerrillas, group scenes during bathing or in marches might be taken for illustrations for some press release. However, the visual and textual narration of these several dozen photographs is a fictitious story which has its point of reference in the waywardly treated myths of masculinity and heroism. Despite military accessories, these images bear no aggression, and the guerrillas, burdened with guns, would rather be associated with the yearnings of many Peter Pans, escaping into the world of fantasy. This literary association is also suggested by the artist himself in the texts he photographed. Similar, the scenery might also be associated with the reality of Neverland, where the “innocent and heartless” heroes pose in refined frames featuring exotic plants and animals.