This project is dedicated to the stories of people from Western Belarus, a region that used to be part of Poland before World War II. These people spoke Belarusian at home but saw themselves as Poles. After the Soviet invasion in 1939, everything changed. As the region became part of the Soviet Union many people were arrested and sent to a Siberian labor camps because of their Polish identity or service in the Regional Army.

After Stalin's death, those who were able to survive there, began to gradually free themselves and faced a choice: they could either immediately repatriate to Poland, or return home to their families, but live in Soviet Belarus. Many of them had not only parents but lovers, partners and children. It wasn't an easy choice.

I worked with post-memory, collecting stories shared by descendants: children and grandchildren of the heroes. While working on the project I was also looking for the analogies in history circumstances. So I have created a series of photographs that combine the old with the contemporary, confronting the details of the stories of the 1940s with the experiences of 2020-2022.

Stay or leave? What choice will you make?

Attention! When making your choice, you need to remember there is no way back.