„Le Blanc” in Burkina. Travel journal from the Country of Honest Men.
Unpretentious collage of impressions written down in real-time together with atmospheric photography of the daily life of Burkina Faso people.
Dominik Siedlecki, a 33-year-old Polish Londoner, traveled to this off-the-beaten-track country to feel the real rhythm of the African land. He admired the landscapes – hills covered with savannah grass and sunburnt mud mosques – but most importantly he was interested in people. He immersed himself in their daily routine, tradition, and culture. Thanks to his openness and curiosity he was breaking up the cultural barriers and slowly discovering the world different from what’s described in tourist guidebooks. He was typing his observations down on a mobile phone. He collected so many of them that after a few years, together with his photography, he decided to publish it as a book.
The publication is bilingual – it can be read both in English and Polish.
„Suddenly, I realised they actually had taken notice that I wasn’t a local – they wanted to try me out. (…) Someone turns around and says, ‘I can’t believe you can dance like us!’ This totally blessed me out. What a pleasure!”
„It felt like a crazy carousel of people. I walked in a big circle, talking, smiling, watching the faces and checking out how life was going on there. I felt absolutely safe, like amongst friends. And they didn’t consider me an ordinary tourist – I was just part of the scene.”
London book launch event by the Royal Albert Hall October 2017:
Radio interview in Polish can be heard below:
Wywiad w Radio Zet Chilli przeprowadzony przez Rafala Turowskiego w grudniu 2017:
More pictures from Burkina Faso can be seen HERE
And my Facebook fan page can be found HERE.
Thank you for all your support!