Chemo

Faces, beautiful in their bareness and concentration, stay in one’s mind. Nearly all else has been left out of the close-ups. Chemo follows chemotherapy patients on the cancer ward in a Polish hospital.

In this temporary state, defences and inhibitions disappear. During their intravenous treatments, patients exchange experiences and confide in each other – middle-aged and old, a teenage boy, a young pregnant woman, an elderly nun. Worries are forgotten for a moment. Even jokes are made, some perhaps provoked by the camera. As conversations continue, facial expressions turn grave and eyes start to water. A strong desire to get better and live is replaced by doubts and fears about one's limited strength.

Kacper Lisowski’s masterly camera work brings the patients and their thoughts very close. The roar of aeroplanes and the shrill screams of jackdaws are reminders of the outside world.

Elizabeth Marschan | Translation by Sophy Bergenheim