The last herb picker Janina (portrait)
In Podlachia (Podlasie) – one of the cleanest regions in Poland
– for many generations locals have been gathering medicinal
plants – wildly-growing herbs. They pick flowers and leaves,
dig for roots and peel branches for bark. They’re often
bothered by heat, pestered by mosquitoes and ticks, they need
to remain in a bent position for many hours at a stretch, and
then they must carry back everything they’ve gathered.
Alas, there are very few real gatherers left – they’re mostly
elderly people that have been harvesting herbs from the wild
for several dozen years now. My goal was to save their fading
figures from oblivion and pay tribute to their hard work.