Dominika Jaruga

The Good Change

I was raised by a single mother in a small village. I remember my way to school, ten minutes from my house. My mother told me I always wanted to go to school to be around the other children. „THE GOOD CHANGE” is the slogan of the right government. They have decided to change the way of learning. I feel that they want to create the idealistic version of our country and their plan is in progress.

But actually, it means that thousands of teachers will lose their jobs. People have to fit into that situation. The government is preparing the whole new system for that change. They are making new textbooks, classes, the whole buildings. But after all these years of habits, is any change even possible?

I am returning to my elementary school — I am trying to unpack my own memories of childhood, family and my young years. I always felt I had to be the best, to be a good girl. Never fail and show my mother that she raised me in a good way. That her good plan worked.

School raised me too, I have many memories connected with that place, like everybody has. Now when I realized that old way of learning won’t be possible anymore, I see my school as a portal where past and present meets. It’s a place where I can find my memories and a lens through which I can see „The good change” effects.

The project is currently in progress.

Dominika Jaruga

Dominika Jaruga is a freelance photographer based between two cities - Warsaw (Poland) and Berlin (Germany). Studying MA in Photography at National Film School in Lodz, she is interested in visual storytelling and works on long-term projects. She focuses on issues connected with human adaptation to „change” and „lost”. She is using her personal experiences as a way of telling the story.