Father and son from behind, red patterned knitwear — Podlasie

Work/Authorial/Rootstock

Rootstock

I began photographing young farmers in 2019, during the pandemic.

While cities stood still — paralysed by fear — the countryside continued its ordinary rhythm.

At the time, I had lost all my photography commissions and began travelling to Podlasie, buying food from local farms to bring back to Warsaw.

Through repeated visits and conversations, I slowly entered a world I thought had already disappeared.

I became interested in young men who consciously chose to stay.

Most had seen life elsewhere.
Some studied.
Some worked abroad.
They knew other possibilities.

Yet they returned.

Podlasie, Poland  ·  2019—ongoing

I — Entering the World
Foggy morning field, hay bales disappearing into mist, car side mirror in foreground — Podlasie
Agricultural seeder machine in a dark field at dusk — Podlasie
Young man's face emerging between dense corn stalks — Podlasie
Silage mound in black plastic under a dramatic storm sky, tyre tracks in mud — Podlasie

I remembered the countryside from childhood — fragmentary and idealised, shaped by family stories and summer memories.

I belong to the third generation raised in the city, and this project begins from that urban perspective.

II — Young Men
Young man in a Puma t-shirt sitting on wooden steps, looking directly at camera — Podlasie
Young man from behind in a tank top, field and sky stretching behind him — Podlasie
Young man leaning on the steering wheel inside an old tractor, looking at camera — Podlasie
Young man lying on a stubble field with a phone, red tractor in the background — Podlasie
Young man in a red cap, profile portrait against a golden-hour field — Podlasie

This is not a project about the transformation of the Polish countryside, although it remains an important backdrop.

The young men I photographed know life beyond the village.

Some studied.
Some worked in Poland or abroad.

Staying was a conscious decision.

III — Fathers
Older man in a hat, looking down, storm sky and open field behind him — Podlasie
Young man and older man standing side by side in a farmyard — Podlasie
Young man lying on fresh hay, older man sitting beside him resting — Podlasie

Their choice interested me.

What remains important enough to come back to?

Farming, food production and family land — things previous generations often tried to leave behind.

IV — Rootstock
Double exposure — a young boy and a horse, layered — Podlasie

I thought that by looking closer at young farmers, I might reconnect with a part of myself I had forgotten.

V — Work / Body / Land
Shirtless young man in profile, mechanical arms of a yellow combine harvester framing his face — Podlasie
Inside a combine cab — hand on the steering wheel, grain field ahead — Podlasie
Young person embracing a dark horse in a covered barn — Podlasie
Young man carrying a heavy sack above his head in a harvested field, face obscured — Podlasie

The people I photographed knew other possibilities.

Staying was never the easier option.

VI — Community
Group of young men in dress shirts gathered near a stone church building — Podlasie
Four men in a field at golden hour, looking at camera — Podlasie
Young man in the foreground, two older men behind him — field and open sky — Podlasie

In one of the areas I photograph, the number of active farmers dropped from around sixty to twelve.

Yet some still choose to remain.

Epilogue
Vast storm sky over open Podlasie fields, a combine barely visible on the horizon
Father and son from behind, red patterned knitwear — Podlasie

This story began with trade.

Slowly, it became something else.