An unusual black-and-white photo reportage from the world of shipbreaking yards

Tomasz Gudzowaty (*1971 in Warsaw) is one of today’s preeminent photographers in Poland. His medium is film-based black-and-white photography that places a premium on what is disappearing and falling into oblivion, cast aside, outside the mainstream. He focuses on human emotions, passions, and choices, and conveys his message by means of sublime and highly aesthetic yet simple pictures. Keiko is a story about a one-of-a-kind place and about the people who shape it. The artist documented the work and lives of shipbreakers in Chittagong, the second-largest city in Bangladesh, where thirty to forty percent of the seven hundred ocean-going ships taken out of service every year are scrapped. The book reminds us that despite the progress of civilization, work can still be a physical challenge that may provide a livelihood but at the same time robs people of any scope to change the status quo.