Anew

Long-term documentary on Lower Silesia – a territory that became a part of Poland after WW2 – and identities that formed there since.

Anew is a long-term documentary project about the evolving identity of Lower Silesia—a region that became part of Poland after World War II but remains, in the public imagination, recognised as “ex-German.” As part of the so-called Recovered Territories, as they were called by the communist government, the region experienced both physical and symbolic erasure: streets were renamed, graveyards removed, and a millennium of German history overwritten by a state-sanctioned narrative of belonging.

Into this newly “blank” space came repatriates, displaced persons, and migrants: from former Polish eastern territories, Lemkos forcibly relocated during the Vistula Action, Greek civil war refugees, and re-emigrants from France. These communities found common ground in labor. Industry became the region’s backbone, supplying not only work but also housing, culture, and meaning. But after 1989, most of this infrastructure collapsed, leaving behind economic voids and fractured identities.

Today, Lower Silesia is a site of layered transformation: multicultural, post-industrial, and increasingly shaped by new waves of migration from Ukraine, Belarus, Korea, and beyond. Its capital, Wrocław –once a center of resistance and alternative culture – now stands as a symbol of these tensions and convergences. The Millennium Flood of 1997, when citizens came together to defend the city, is often cited by sociologists as the first moment a true Polish Lower Silesian identity began to take shape. What is it now? What is the sum of stories in the plural?

Anew draws on over a decade of fieldwork and archival research, combining photography and oral history. Structured as a non-linear narrative inspired by paragraph novels, it invites readers to assemble their own path through the region’s fragmented memoryscape. 

As of now, the project had only minor exhibitions and/or some elements of it were shown to the public. It’s still undergoing conceptual and sequencing work, and I plan to present this series as a book, digital piece and exhibition. The work on planned presentations of Anew has been developed in collaboration with Martyna Wyrzykowska (a graphic designer specializing in photo books), and future collaboration is planned with Marian Misiak (graphic designer, researcher, curator). The project was awarded the 2024 Young Poland scholarship from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the President of Wrocław’s Artistic Grant, and the Pix.House Talent of the Year award in the Scholar category – all three supporting parts of the fieldwork, which is now completed. In 2025, Anew is also being presented as part of the Futures Photography platform.

Creatively, Anew aims to reflect the non-linear nature of memory, migration, and identity as a mosaic(s). Inspired by “choose-your-own-adventure” books, both the print and digital components will offer a non-sequential structure, mirroring the fragmented and intertwined stories of the region’s inhabitants. This approach allows viewers and readers to navigate the project in multiple ways, emphasizing how personal and collective experiences intersect across time and geography.

This decision makes it a great exercise in experimental visual narratives, that can be modelled around different points of view depending on the context in which the work is shown. First sequence map shown on the last slide was done in 2024, and could be sent upon request.