„Pozdrowienia z Polski”. Fotografia jako narzędzie mobilizacji społecznej w walce z zanieczyszczeniem wizualnym

When the draft Landscape Act was presented in the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish Parliament) in 2013, social organisations launched a civic campaign ‘Senators, Clean up the Ads!’. As part of the campaign, the Miasto Moje a w Nim Association released a series of the Greetings from Poland postcards with landscape views from Polish mountains, seaside resorts, and cities visually polluted with excessive outdoor advertising. This was not the first case when images of ad-obscured landscapes were used. As early as in 2009, Elżbieta Dymna and Marcin Rutkiewicz published a photo album Polski outdoor [Outdoor Poland] documenting visual pollution in Poland. Similar actions were organised in various cities after the Landscape Act entered into force in 2015. The aim of this article is to analyse the use of photography as a social mobilisation tool intended to, on the one hand, increase social awareness and support changes in the landscape and, on the other hand, put pressure on officials and politicians by reversing this process. The ads or images that went outdoor were now themselves reproduced and disseminated online, at exhibitions, and in publications.