When one attempts to delve deeper into the Polish psyche and concomitantly, Polish photography, the topic often turns to its vastly complicated history with its neighbors to the West (Germany/Prussia) and to the East (Russia and Ukraine). Justyna Mielnik
When one attempts to delve deeper into the Polish psyche and concomitantly, Polish photography, the topic often turns to its vastly complicated history with its neighbors to the West (Germany/Prussia) and to the East (Russia and Ukraine). Justyna Mielnikiewicz began her documentary recording of life along the Dnieper River in Ukraine with the intention of avoiding politics by using the river as a metaphorical line of reference. Her original intention was abandoned as the political earthquakes that washed over Ukraine at the time her investigation began in 2014 and beyond became profoundly compelling to explore and to record. A number of additional forces also propelled her to dig deeper into the Ukrainian saga including a family history that mirrored the geo-political ebb and flow between Poland and Ukraine and an unusual perspective presented by her move to Tbilisi, Georgia in 2003 and her coverage of the political and social transformations of the Caucasus region.
