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This is Krystyna, she lives in the Praga District of Warsaw, Poland. This neighborhood struck me unlike anything I had experienced before. Praga has been known as slums for a very long time, as it's history is somewhat different from the rest of Warsaw. Lying on the outskirts across the Vistula River it was left succeptable to takeovers, floods, and fires. Though relatively unharmed in relation to the rest of Warsaw during WWII (and I stress, in relation to...) the rough history of the district has still overtime left even it's modern residents living with crime and neglect to their homes. Though outwardly bleak in appearance with its drab buildings adorned in cracks and bullet holes, you can still find bursts of color and perfectly kept shrines to the Virgin Mary.

We met Krystyna in a desolate courtyard inbetween two apt buildings. Krystyna is a former domestic abuse victim, handicapped, and suffers from alcohol dependency. She allowed us into her home (which she cannot take care of and does not have any assistance to do so) and told us her story of breaking free of her abusive ex husband. 'I don't have the things I had then, and I am alone, but I am free and can be my own woman and that makes me happy.'

The district today is changing so much in it's new found gentrification. Young artists are placing themselves in old factory lofts and opening up cafes and bars. Yet even there the newness feels so different than what we experience here in The States. There is no Kitsch. The young people carry with them the memories of their childhood in communist Poland, and the stories of their parents and grandparents. Alongside the candid skepticism there is warmth, inner freedom, and a charge in the air that I've only dreamed of until then. I can only hope the shift in demographic helps or simply doesn't hurt the longstanding residents. Currently it seems the majority of people are living in harmony. On the same street you can find a bar/restaurant serving traditional Polish food and music to older locals, and a cafe of young people singing along to an acoustic guitar. In anycase, I guess you could say I took to Warsaw in a way I did not expect.

Photos by Michele Crowe