Agnieszka Traczewska has been documenting the Orthodox Jewish community of Kraków with her camera since 2008. For over 15 years, she has taken hundreds of photos, creating a unique collective portrait of the community captured during Jewish holidays, synagogue prayers, private events in family homes, and rituals related to keeping kosher or celebrating Shabbat.

Although Jewish identity is a broad concept, Traczewska’s story is focused on those for whom Jewishness equals religious observation at its most traditional, orthodox form. In this sense, the panorama that she has outlined is narrow, and a consequence of her subjective choices.

Agnieszka Traczewska is a photographer and documentary film producer. She specializes in photographing the hermetic world of Hasidim, showing a world of Jewish rituals, ceremonies and daily life closed to outsiders. Through her photographs, she presents an intimate glimpse into the worldview of Orthodox Jews, whose lives are subordinated to religious precepts and spiritual tradition.

Her first photo album, Powroty / Returns (Warsaw, 2018), depicts Hasidic pilgrimages to the graves of the great tzaddikim in Poland. Her next album, Wskrzeszony Świat / A Rekindled World (Krakow, 2021), presents a kaleidoscope of revived ultra-Orthodox life on four continents. Rejecting the usual stereotypes, Traczewska brings viewers closer to contemporary Hasidim as individuals. Kroke (2022) is the culmination of fifteen years of documenting the Orthodox Jewish community in her hometown of Kraków.

The project was financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland – State special purpose fund.

Project co-financed from funds of the City of Kraków.
Media patrons: Wyborcza, Radio Kraków, New Eastern Europe, Miasteczko Poznań, Wielokulturowy Kraków, Kraków Culture