Pawel Laczny

„On the way to the Lord”

Each country has it's factor which very often determinates it's citizens mentality. So has Poland. Our factor is religion. It is in schools, in sport, in landscapes, in politics reaching almost all parts of our lifes. Following the statistics, nine of ten of my countryman are catholics. Very often it seems that the values share in churches stays in churches. It is visible in our daily life, religion is being used as a weapon in public and political disscusions. In an attempt to document the social and spiritual consequences of those ongoing confrontations, I decided to seek the believers that are behind the politics. People for which religion is a life path, foundament and a goal. I was looking for a way to get close to the believers and relized that I should join them during pilgrimages. Along this journey I took part in annual catholic pilgrimage from Wrocław to Częstochowa and orthodox one from Warsaw to St. Grabarka mountain. The difficulty of walking is taken by children, adults and elder people. I could observe that the strenght to walk tens of kilometers per day comes from community which they create and the goal each pilgrim has. I had experienced connection with very religious people, worshippers who cried while praying. I met people with passion, truly committed to faith. I tried to express their toil and effort, as a sign and manifestation of true faith. For the first time I have been a witness of such unblemished faith. The project begun as, in some way, a looking for faith in faith. I don't know if I found it but I know that I want to keep discovering. I want to look for the religion's impact on our lifes, how it appers in small and large scale.

Pawel Laczny

Pawel Laczny - born in 1983, member of Polish Jurnalists Associtation and International Federation of Jurnalists, graduated in economy. Works as a freelancer photographer, mostly intrested in documental photography, in people, their emotions, places they live in. Pawel cooperate with polish and foregin magazines, most of his work is based in Poland. For many years Pawel cooperated with National Geographic Poland, National Geographic Traveler also with UNICEF Poland.