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Clear of People is a photobook by Polish photographer Michal Iwanowski that retraces the journey the photographer’s grandfather did with his brother to return home after escaping a gulag, in 1945. Michal is running a crowdfunding campaign to send the book to press – pre-order your copy through Kickstarter.
(Details: 116 pages – 19.4 x 25.4cm – 56 color photographs – Section sewn – Flexcover with rounded spine – 120 l/cm offset print – Designed by Tom Mrazauskas)
“In 1945, my grandfather and his brother escaped from a gulag in Kaluga (Russia), and crossed over 2,200 km on a quest to return home. As fugitives, they walked only at night, and avoided contact with people at all cost. They slept in turns, deep in the forest, watching over each other and dressing each other’s wounds. Surviving on berries, mushrooms or an occasionally stolen cabbage, they endured extreme hardship and weather adversity. Yet throughout the journey, their determination and their brotherly bond kept them alive and kept them going. Three months later, in November 1945, they were eventually reunited with their family in Wroclaw, Poland. They both lived interesting and long lives.
In the summer of 2013, nearly 70 years later, I decided to retrace their epic journey and document it through a modern fugitive’s eyes – staying Clear Of People. With the help of a diary my uncle had written, where I found a map he had drawn, I was able to navigate and follow their steps closely.”
