Deeply Rooted, 2021 - 2023
Deeply Rooted is a documentary photography project about the Sorbian minority in Germany during a crucial period of its history: the structural change brought about by the closure of lignite open cast mines by 2038. During this period, important decisions will be made that will affect the cultural preservation of this minority’s language and traditions.
For over two years, I have been documenting Sorbian people and their efforts to keep their culture alive. The Sorbian minority is one of four official minorities in Germany. They are a West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting one of the country’s most intensive lignite mining regions: Lusatia, located between the German federal states Brandenburg and Saxony. In the last 50 years, 136 towns have disappeared as the land was needed to expand the mines.
As a response to this identity crisis, Sorbians are creating opportunities to preserve their heritage, such as language revitalisation. Being a Sorbian nowadays means belonging to a minority that is proud of their traditions and that has withstood gruesome events during its history, such as assimilation attempts during the Nazi regime and the intensified lignite mining during the Communist rule. However, their spirit remains indestructible. In the words of the Sorbian poet Jakub Bart-Ćišinski: “our land is small, and small is our people, an island washed by the sea, but the waves will never overflow it.”
