POLES

POLES [POLACY in Polish] is a long-term photographic project exploring contemporary Poland through the people who inhabit it. Rather than focusing on iconic landmarks or tourist images, the work centers on everyday encounters—portraits and street photographs taken spontaneously, guided by intuition and circumstance. The project seeks to capture a diverse cross-section of Polish society: workers and students, the elderly and the young, people in cities, villages, and landscapes in between. While the photographs often contain subtle visual cues that anchor them to Poland—architecture, clothing, gestures, or context—the emphasis remains on the human presence. Shot across regions such as the coast, the Tatra Mountains, Upper Silesia, and the Mazury lakes, POLACY builds a mosaic of experiences and identities. It is not a definitive portrait of a nation but a collection of fragments, showing people as they are in their own environments. Through this approach, POLACY reflects both continuity and change: the persistence of traditions, the weight of history, and the rhythms of contemporary life. The project aims to move beyond stereotypes and present an honest, empathetic view of Polish people today. Ultimately, POLACY is a study of belonging and identity—asking what it means to be Polish now, and how that identity is lived, expressed, and seen.