"Local" is a project that explores the problem of population migration and the concept of borders, decisions about which constantly affect our lives. We usually associate borders with processes of movement of people, but history presents us with situations where borders “migrate” over populations. Coming from Belarus and being in Poland, I witnessed the traumatic experience of earlier 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 to peripheral territories has confused the lives of millions of people of all nationalities.

In photo projections I place archival images of buildings and nature from territories that were previously considered a single whole, but are now located on different sides of the border. Although photographic projections were made in different countries and places, their exact sources are difficult to determine. Borders are conditional and imposed, heaven and earth are one unity.

The trauma, nostalgia and love experienced by people as they searched for their new home found symbolic expression in the form of a patchwork quilt. Families from the Belarusian, Polish and German sides provided me with their personal archives to work on this topic.

The current migration crisis, which has flared up on the territory of Belarus and Ukraine, albeit of a different nature, has become another element of the endless problem when geographical and political maps become guides to our lives.

The project consists of an installation with a quilt, printed photographs and a slideshow.