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Pawel Dwulit

Moja Polska


"My Poland"


These images represent my first time returning to Poland, my country of birth, in eleven years. I went to explore the memories of my youth- my father deserted the Polish army and fled to France where he would set his hopes and dreams for Canada. My mother and I joined him three years later.  


I photographed in the town (Miastko) where I was born; where I searched for the memory of playing on playgrounds with cousins before dinner. Running around exploring my grandfathers chicken coop and greenhouse. I wanted to explore a life I very easily could have lived. Where family traditions were taught, where life was once simple and free from concern. 


Today those memories are but shadows and ghosts as the European Union changes the economic and cultural landscape of my country of origin. I found family members struggling to maintain their dignity and pride. The West had left its mark while I was away. I created images that are a imaginative deja vu of my life in Poland that I almost lived. 


In 2004 Poland joined the European Union; its population was allowed unrestricted entry to EU Member States and so one of the largest exporters of labor was born within the European Union.A declining birth rate and migration have reduced Poland's population over the last decade yet it has been the only EU country that has not fallen into a recession and has continued to grow economically. 


The work merges fantasy and reality. The fantasy that my family stayed together and happy in Poland. The reality is of a swift departure for the West from the then communist state; leaving less fortunate members of my family in a country that is now catching up to the western world.

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