Documents – AGA KUNICKA

A step away from paradise

Photographies was taken in 2015 and 2016 during last european migrants crisis in one of the centres for asylium seekers in Poland. At that time media shown dramatically situation at Mediterranean Sea and european borders. Poland refuse to take part in european relocation program. They are centres located somewhere on the margins, left behind by previous residents – and they cannot easily replace a home. They become places of alienation. They might provide safety, but do they provide the chance for development and a new life? Culture clashes are never easy. There is a need to learn new, completely alien relationships: man – woman, parents – children, citizen – nation state, person – society, private life – religion. To be a part of life one has arrived in, one has to give up parts of their identity from their home country, which does not come easy. And to add insult to injury, locals gain knowledge from the often subjective media and give side eye to all those that are new – to those that are different. Refugees forced by history from their homes, looking for safe asylums. It’s a natural history of the human family, meeting of the foreign and unknown enriches both sides..