Karczeby

Adam Panczuk

2008-2009 — Poland

About this series

The “Karczebs” (from a dialect spoken in Eastern Poland – a mixture of Polish and Belarusian) are people who are strongly attached to the land they have been cultivating for generations.

Karczebs cleared forests with their bare hands, in order to grow crops. In fact the word Is also used to describe what remains after a tree is cut down: a trunk with roots. It was never easy for the authorities to chase them from their land, even during Stalinism. Their attachment to their land often cost them their freedom. When they die they are buried close to their farm. A Karczeb becomes one with the soil that is later cultivated by his descendants.

Photographer: Adam Pańczuk
Nationality: Polish
Based in: Warsaw, Poland
Website: adampanczuk.pl

Adam Pańczuk (1978) currently lives in Warsaw. In his work he travels to wherever he finds an interesting subject. He studied at the University of Economics and photography at the Multimedia Communication Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań. With his projects Pańczuk seems to be asking questions, at the same time directly and metaphorically, about identity, consciousness and attitude towards life of the people he meets along the way. His unique skill to tell gripping yet intimate stories with images has won him many prestigious awards to date. Pańczuk is a Polish Ministry of Culture grantee and a member of Sputnik Photos.