People of Polesia

“I take a few pictures – luckily they didn’t notice that and didn’t manage to pull the triumphant gladiator’s faces” – these are the words in which Zofia Chomętowska described in 1936 her “camera hunts for people.” It was probably her exceptional skill of blending in with the community of the Polesians and eventually becoming an invisible observer that allowed her to create a series of extraordinary portraits and documentary shots of the Polesian countryside. Chomętowska was one of the very few photographers who watched the Polesians’ at work and at markets, and accompanied them during hunting and fishing, thus following their everyday footsteps.