Locals

"Locals" is a project exploring the problem of population migration and the concept of borders. Usually we associate borders with the processes of human movement, but history presents us with the situations, when the borders "migrate" over populations. Coming form Belarus and being based in Poland, I witnessed the traumatic experience of the previous times, when about a third of the lands of pre-war Poland were annexed to the Soviet Union, and in return it received lands that were previously part of the German state. Forced relocation in peripheral territories mixed the lives of millions people of all the nationalities.

In the photographic projections I juxtapose and overlay archival images from territories that were previously considered a unity, but are now located on different sides of the border, creating a unique peripheral identity of the „locals". Although photo projections were made in different countries, locations, it is difficult to determine their exact sources. The borders are conditional and imposed, heaven and earth are one unity.

How the events described affected the life and identity of the people living in these areas? What problems did forced migration entail? What is the role of the place as a geographical point in shaping our identity, both individual and group? All those questions were topics of my visual investigation.

The trauma, nostalgia and love experienced by people during the process of searching for their new home, in turn, found a symbolic expression in the form of a patchwork quilt. Families both from Belarusian, Polish and Germans side provided me with their personal archives to work on the topic.

The current migration crisis that has ignited on the territory of Belarus, although of a different nature, has become another element in an endless problem when geographical, political maps become the guides of our life.

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Projection of the wedding photo from Pruzhany, Belarus of 1929 (Veha project archive) on the trees in Wroclaw, Poland
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Projection of the wedding photo from Pruzhany, Belarus of 1929 (Veha project archive) on the trees in Wroclaw, Poland

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Bride and groom Poland,1920 (Library of Congress archive) on the roads of Poland (former German state)
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Bride and groom Poland,1920 (Library of Congress archive) on the roads of Poland (former German state)

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Image from the Locals photography project
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Projections of a family from Bobruisk, Belarus of 1931 (from Lady Kaplan's family archive (VEHA project) on Zmigrod, Poland (former German state) building

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Patchwork quilt made from photos of private archives
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Patchwork quilt made from photos of private archives

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Patchwork quilt made from photos of private archives
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Patchwork quilt made from photos of private archives

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Projections of a photo from Bobruisk, Belarus of 1931 (VEHA project archive) on the building in Poland (former German state)
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Projections of a photo from Bobruisk, Belarus of 1931 (VEHA project archive) on the building in Poland (former German state)

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Image from the Locals photography project
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Projection of the archive photo of 1919, taken in Poland (Library of Congress archive), at the trees in Belarusian village Kaptaruny, situated on the very border between Belarus and Lithuania (polish territory in beginning on 20th century

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Collage photo of the trees and archive map, reflecting the concepts of roots and identities, forming the person
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Collage photo of the trees and archive map, reflecting the concepts of roots and identities, forming the person

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Collage photo of the trees and archive map, reflecting the concepts of roots and identities, forming the person
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Collage photo of the trees and archive map, reflecting the concepts of roots and identities, forming the person

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Image from the Locals photography project
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Projection of the archive first communion photo, taken in Poland (private archive), on the barn in village Oshmyanec, Belarus (polish territory in beginning of the 20th century)

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Patchwork quilt made from photos of private archives
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Patchwork quilt made from photos of private archives

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Image from the Locals photography project
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Projection of the archive photo of 1919, taken in Poland (Library of Congress archive), at the trees in Belarusian village Kaptaruny, situated on the very border between Belarus and Lithuania (polish territory in beginning on 20th century)

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Image from the Locals photography project
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Projection of the archive photo (around 1900) from Lithuania in the house of the Belarusian village Kaptaruny, situated on the very border between Belarus and Lithuania (polish territory in beginning on 20th century)

© Katerina Kouzmitcheva - Image from the Locals photography project
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Photo of Narcyz Witczak-Witaczynski of a Ukranian family Grzegorskich at Krechowce, 1931 (NAC Archive) on the trees in Wroclaw, Poland

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