MY SISTER’S POLAND
Unfinished project.
January 2, 2021. In a world mired in confinements and fear of others, I sneak across the border between Germany and Poland to visit my older sister, Charlotte.
My nephew, Stefan, is about to celebrate his very first birthday against a backdrop of tension between my sister, her husband and her in-laws with whom she lives in Krzemieniewo, a small agricultural village in western Poland, mid-path between Poznan and Wroklow. A region that seems timeless to me. She set up a small stable there, frequented by the village kids.
Since we were teenagers, I have always had difficulty understanding my sister. Her life, her choices, even her appearance make me wonder about our common childhood, our education; how can a common core inspire such distant paths? I wrongly felt like I was the only one who cared. I found myself harsh towards her, always about to moan about something, my mind compiling small judgments.
As soon as I arrived, I wanted to distance myself, as if I was working on a documentary project. Swap my status as actor for that of narrator. But I always had trouble taking photos of my sister. So I turned to her life, my camera helping me to extricate myself from my position of brother.
When I returned to Paris, I imagined this series as a pretext to go and visit her over time.
But she left “her” Poland and her in-laws with a bang a few months later.
This “ongoing” series became eternally unfinished.
Our relationship has continually improved since then.
