Deceitful Reverence is an exceptional presentation of the meanders of the human internal transformation. Photographer Igor Pisuk leads us through the painful process of getting out of alcohol addiction, discovering a new self, dealing with the surrounding reality, seeking the closeness of other men, and – finally – finding love. Everything is embellished with unusually suggestive photographs, showing human nature with no embarrassment.

The process Pisuk got through was a specific therapy and directing the camera lens on himself was a substitute for alcohol: “The photography let me express the chaos that was in my head, name different emotions and states, observe the accompanying me loneliness, alienation, love, all kinds of fears and hopes,” – says the author of the book. – “Deceitful Reverence is a photographic record of visions, emotions, dreams, nightmares as well as experiencing of the simplest elements of reality in an organic, intense, semi-magical way. The worlds of inner feelings mix here with the outer ones, shaping and affecting the first ones.”

The book, which marks the end of years of the registration of the author’s experiences, pushes the reader on a psychological roller coaster. The dense and dark atmosphere of the pictures doesn’t let go, doesn’t let catch a breath, doesn’t give a moment of respite. With every page of the book, flawlessly designed by Aneta Kowalczyk, we are going deeper and deeper into the recesses of the consciousness and subconsciousness of “the man who keeps getting lost, loses ground under his feet, falls, but step by step regains the sense of space, first reaches himself, then manages to get outside – into the human world.” What did he find there? Whom did he meet? —Agata Pyzik

Deceitful Reverence is published by Blow Up Press