9 GATES OF NO RETURN

‘You say that I live at the end of the world? The end of the world is there, on the left. I live even further, I live beyond.’ - Krystyna Rados

In her first book, Agata Grzybowska presents 9 persons who for various reasons and life choices have decided to give up their lives in the city and settle in the woods of the Bieszczady Mountains, south-eastern Poland. They moved there between 1960s and 1980s, when Bieszczady were completely empty place. Thus, for many, Bieszczady are a symbol of freedom and direct, tangible contact with nature. But after so many years of living in such isolation, for people presented in the book, this ‘paradise’ became a trap, which they cannot get out from as they do not have families, nor the place to go. So they continue live far away from other people, often without electricity and running water, in the huts they built themselves.

Why did they make such decisions? What was driving them? What did they run away from? What did they want to achieve in this way? What the loneliness and melancholy is for them? These are just some of the questions that Grzybowska is trying to answer with 9 GATES OF NO RETURN.

Comprised of two parts, Grzybowska’s book contains powerful portraits and landscapes printed in quad-tones, accompanied by colourful polaroids and memorable handwritten interviews. All photographs were taken during several Grzybowska’s winter stays in the Bieszczady Mountains.

The book is also available in the exclusive collector's edition.