Karczeby - Inextricable Adam Panczuk's exhibition in the Main Photo Gallery In one of the dialects spoken in Eastern Poland, which is a mixture of Polish and Belarusian, people who were strongly attached to the land they had cultivated for generations were called "karczebs". Karczebs cleared forests with their bare hands to gain farmland. However, the word Karczeb was also used to describe what remained after a tree was cut down - a stump with roots that remained in the ground. This can also be applied to people: even during Stalinism, it was not easy for the authorities to eradicate them, to drive them off their land. They often paid for their attachment to the soil, their land, with their freedom or their lives. After their death, they became one with the farmland, so the soil itself became karczeb, which was later cultivated in this spirit by their descendants. After the funeral of his grandfather, the author, Adam Panczuk, could not get rid of the thought that came from the priest's mouth: - Your grandfather explored the ground all his life so that he could return to it after his death. Panczuk realized that his works had lacked the power to touch the audience. He prepared for the Karczeby series for two months: he made notes, talked to people, so he devoted plenty of time to preparations. The images in the series radiate a deep connection with the subjects of his pictures, and although the figures sometimes pose, they remain very authentic. The portraits are serious, but they are imbued with a kind of lightness. We can admire and smile at the same time, and perhaps understand what it means to be a Karczeby.
