Adam Panczuk – Karczeby

“In one of the dialects spoken in the east of Poland, which is a mixture of Polish and Belorussian, people strongly attached to the soil they had been cultivating for generations were called ‘Karczeby’. With their bare hands Karczeby cleared forests in order to grow crops. The word karczeb was also used to describe what remains after a tree is cut down — a trunk with roots, which remains stuck in the ground. This also applied to people — it was not easy for the authorities to root them out from their land, even in the Stalinism times. The price they paid for their attachment to their soil was often their freedom or life. After death, buried nearby their farmland, a karczeb himself became the soil, later cultivated by his descendants.”

Ignacy owns a racehorse breeding. He has three hectares of land. Panczuk2 Ryszard lives alone in his father’s house. Before, they had been cultivating 7-hectares of land. Now he receives a pension. Zofia has been living on her own since her husband died 10 years ago. Before they had been cultivating a 11-hectares land. Hubert (11) has been helping his father at the farm since he was 6. He wants to have his own farm when he grows up. Rafa³ graduated from law faculty at Warsaw University and returned to his father’s house to help him cultivate70-hectares land.

more images and other interesting projects on Adam Panczuk’s website