GRZYBOWSKA, Agata - 9 Gates of No Return

Personal statement by the photographer, Agata GRZYBOWSKA

"You say that I live at the end of the world? The end of the world is there, on the left. I live even further, I live beyond.” (Agata GRZYBOWSKA)

Background information

"The meanwhile out-of-print photo volume '9 Gates of No Return' is the long-awaited book debut of Agata GRZYBOWSKA, one of the most talented Polish female photojournalists. She presents 9 persons who for various reasons and life choices have decided to give up their lives in the city and settle in the woods of the Bieszczady Mountains, south-eastern Poland.
Bieszczady, which for many are a symbol of freedom and direct, tangible contact with nature, became a trap for them, which they cannot get out from. They live far away from other people, often without electricity and running water, in the huts they built themselves. Why did they make such decisions? What was driving them? What did they run away from? What did they want to achieve in this way? What the loneliness and melancholy is for them? These are just some of the questions that GRZYBOWSKA is trying to answer with the photo book project '9 Gates of No Return'.

Content

Comprised of two parts, '9 Gates of No Return' by Agata GRZYBOWSKA contains extremely powerful portraits and landscapes printed in quadtones, accompanied by colourful polaroids and memorable handwritten interviews. All photographs were taken during several GRZYBOWSKA’s winter stays in the Bieszczady Mountains." (© Blow Press, 2017)

About Polish photographer Agata GRZYBOWSKA

Photo books by Agata GRZYBOWSKA