Mateusz Kowalik STILL FAR AWAY FROM PARADISE

Warsaw, Poland-based photographer Mateusz Kowalik first encountered the people living in Góry Suche, a mountain range near the border of the Czech Republic, when he was returning from a climbing trip. Most of the inhabitants of this secluded village had grown up somewhere else, and were living in the mountains to escape from city life. “I decided to photograph them because I am interested in those who exist on the margins of contemporary society,” Kowalik explains.

Shot over the course of a year, the series depicts the bucolic beauty of Góry Suche— as well as some of the darker sides of life there, including poverty, lack of infrastructure and scarcity of educational resources. “Even if you take a gulp of air, you still might end up panting for breath,” Kowalik says in a statement accompanying the work.

Kowalik began his career editing a travel photography blog and decided to focus on long-term documentary projects in 2016. After graduating from the yearlong Sputnik

Photos Mentoring Program in 2017, he started focusing on gaining recognition for his work. His images will be included in a book featuring the best projects from his year at the Sputnik Photos Mentoring Program, as well as at the International Festival of Photography in Łódź, Poland, this coming June. Eventually, he hopes to see “Still Far Away From Paradise” published as a book.

—Brienne Walsh

Photos © Mateusz Kowalik mateusz-kowalik.com