FEATURED STORY
Windbreakers
BY KORBUSJE
On certain beaches in certain parts of the world, no more so than in Jakub Jakobiszyn’s home country of Poland, the aesthetics of windbreakers arouse much controversy and discussion. These fabric sheets, designed to give shelter and privacy, are generally made in garish colors – presumably so that a particular one can be spotted by its owner from a distance, but that aim rendered moot when used on mass – each blending into the vast blanket of kaleidoscopic colors. For some they’re a blight on the otherwise serene landscape of the coastline. For others they’re synonymous with the spirit of summertime beach fun.
That tension is interesting, but Jakub, who goes under the pseudonym korbusje for his photographic work, prefers to take an objective, aesthetic approach – “Don’t judge, just show” as he puts it. Capturing these windbreakers in square format, compressing depth and with a keen eye for the interplay between pattern, color and geometry, and of course the people at leisure amongst them, the result is something of polychromatic beauty – some scenes showing pockets of color framed by sea and sand, others showing endless, labyrinthine trails of multi-colored fabric.
Are windbreakers a colourful essential or just an absurd habit? For korbusje, they’re a mass one-day residential development, the architecture of a large sandpit that creates odd urbanism fluttering in the wind. He invites you to step amongst them and the rainbow feast they offer – a warm invitation as winter descends on Poland and the rest of the northern hemisphere.
Images and story courtesy of korbusje. Follow him on Instagram: @korbusje and buy the book at www.wydalem.com
as a kid i used to go on vacation within the employee holiday fund (polish: fwp), wear a chicago bulls cap, and set up a beach windbreaker from the błyskawica resort, mainly to protect my mastermind board against getting blown away. my memories bring back not only pitching on cold sand, and the morning rush to get to the beach as fast as i could to secure the best strategic place (at an intersection of three paths: to the sea, the bar and the exit). what i also remember is the wide range of colors emanating from windbreakers all over the beach – the mass of temporary constructions. today as then, the architecture of this big sand box, as the day unfolds, creates fascinating urban planning flapping in the wind.
this custom, to stretch a piece of cloth on a few stakes to interrupt the view of the beach, the landscape of which is the most desirable for any beach goer in the first place, seems to fail to meet all of the criteria to be classified as reasonable. it might also be true that any attempts to stare at such chaos for a long moment, diving into its epicenter, and trying to document this experience to get a coherent photographic account resembles the symptoms of stockholm syndrome. to me, however, this both complex and fragile view is mesmerizing: blending hundreds of people and colors to render countless combinations every day. as it undergoes constant transformation, it is a real head-turner.
aiming to show this process in as objective a way as possible, i observed its daily metamorphoses from a perspective of beach goers, strollers and barflies. while recording i was wearing a cap – not a chicago bulls one – but of assorted colors, the windbreaker kind. with a camera hanging on my neck to make the whole undertaking look more casual, setting foot on the beige, fine-grained sand i had no idea that my fascination would turn into something tangible or that i would walk 400 000 steps across the beach. it was my insatiable curiosity about if and how the windbreaker trend was developing in other resorts that did not let me stop and complete the project for so long. so i visited świnoujście, międzyzdroje, wisełka, miedzywodzie, pobierowo, kołobrzeg, ustronie morskie, sarbinowo, chłopy, mielno, ustka, łeba, jastrzębia góra, władysławowo, chałupy, jurata, hel, puck, gdynia, sopot, gdańsk, jantar, stegna, skowronki and krynica morska. within two months each of those places , in its own unique way, was hypnotizing me with the multitude of colors, artfulness of design, and variety of human faces.
i did not realize that after piecing the photos together it would appear important to me – besides aesthetic and artistic aspects – to make the beholder feel like a beach watcher and actual participant: being mesmerized themselves by colors, arrangements and designs, neither making a judgement nor assessment, but simply entering the world of baltic beaches.
