The article title refers to the Pretend It’s a City series directed by Martin Scorsese featuring Fran Lebowitz. 

There comes a time when you travel to a place for a third or fourth time and have already seen all the usual attractions. You begin to stray away from the well-trodden tourist paths. It was during one of these visits that I came upon the Photographers’ Gallery, located next to Oxford Street in the West End of London. There I saw, for the very first time, the amazing works by Evelyn Hofer, the German-American photographer and Johny Pitts’ at Home is Not a Place exhibition. Both presentations gave great insight into the city and its inhabitants. They captured people on an ordinary day, at work or at home, on the street or in a park, in a bar or at the restaurant. Both exhibitions were simple and beautiful. 

Evelyn Hofer spent years observing the cities and the people living in them, capturing unique yet ordinary moments. Johny Pitts invites viewers to enter and experience the world of the Black British community, using his family photos,private audio tapes and other memorabilia. 

Both exhibitions focused on individuals and communities, people that make a city: what it is, and who create its cultural heritage. Inhabitants captured on those photographs make up the Portrait of a city, transforming the streets and buildings into tales and stories. Even the building of the Photographers’ Gallery is inspirational. It feels like a local space that gives its visitors a sense of belonging, being part of something, thus creating a community. One feels welcome to see the exhibitions or simply sit down for a cup of coffee and have a nice talk with other patrons. 

Poznań (West Poland) is the city which I live in. It is a place I’ve chosen, and only then it became mine. During my years here I got more and more aware that thinking about the local community, exploring the streets and preserving the stories of the people living on them became essential to me. I feel like this can only be accomplished through art. Art gives one the tools to open discussion about the surrounding world, to encourage reflection and show what is important for the local community. After all these years, when I think about my city, I think of places created by and for the locals. They contain the essence of what the city is. 

Around the block from my apartment, there is a small gallery called Pani Domu. It is run by two artists – Mateusz Piestrak and Krzysztof Mętel. It came to life spontaneously, as a tribute to Mrs. Maria – the artists’ elderly neighbour, who lived in the apartment that now holds the gallery space. She was a major part of their lives, and they found great inspiration in the stories she shared with them. After her passing, they took care of the apartment she left behind and turned it into an independent art gallery. They named it Pani Domu which translates to Lady of the House. The first exhibition hosted there, titled Not those eyes anymore was an artistic interpretation of their time as neighbours. And it went on from there. Mateusz and Krzysztof are great and welcoming hosts, who treat the gallery guests as close friends, with a cup of tea and interesting stories to tell. 

I felt similarly about the FWD: Gallery, when it was still located in one of the booths in a semi-abandoned shopping center from the 1990’s. In order to visit it one had to stray away from main street and let oneself get a little lost between the aisles. Once getting there, one would find the owners – Maria Ancukiewicz and Ewa Mrozikiewicz and simply ask them about the story behind the art they presented. It was (and still is) their mission to look forward, and act as a mediator between the artist and the audience. Their most recent exhibition was the Forward Tarot project, to which they invited a group of well known polish artists: Kasia Balicka, Gosia Bartosik, Tymek Borowski, Piotr Bosacki, Olaf Brzeski, Maciej Chorąży, Zbiok Czajkowski, Kolektyw DIS and Harry Griffin, Izabella Gustowska, Inside Job, Aleksandra Liput, Przemek Matecki, Ewa Mrozikiewicz, Adam Niklewicz, Oleg&Kaśka, Dominika Olszowy, Jakub Paprocki, Kasia Przezwańska, Gregor Różański, SIKSA, Mikołaj Sobczak, Paweł Susid, Marta Węglińska and Jakub Woynarowski. They created a deck of 72 Tarot Cards, a collection of conceptual work of esoteric art. Forward Tarot was crafted in a limited edition of 200 card decks. 

Strolling through the streets of Poznan’s old districts, one can find many interesting things. Friendly faces signed “iamsomeart”, light bulbs and jumping eyes and pills created by Eskaer or the so-called Watchers by Noriaki who became so popular, that one of the municipal traffic lights uses it as the “Walk” symbol. And that is just a part of it – the list is long and diverse. The city invites its visitors to explore the art presented on the walls of its buildings. All these artists live in Poznań and are part of what gives it that particular vibe. Urban art is a major part of Poznań DNA and the Zacnie Gallery, run by Someart, exhibits that in a beautiful way. It presents and gathers works created mostly by street artists. In its backroom there is a studio, where Hadaki makes her ceramic and Someart makes his paintings. You can often see the artists at work, when visiting. The gallery’s main goal is to support the new wave of artists and give them a space to show their work. For me it is best to go there on a Wednesday afternoon (the Zacnie is open 2 days a week), when it’s less crowded . It gives the opportunity to ask Someart about his plans for new exhibitions or exchange info about new local places worth a visit. 

Sometimes I pretend that the city is an art space. I see walls as canvases and buildings as gallery spaces. Then it feels inspiring to simply walk around, and be surrounded by people. These seemingly insignificant moments are often the beginnings of great stories about people and places, constituting the local heritage and allowing me personally to describe this city as “my place”.