DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT // As a 30-year-old woman of Polish descent, I can’t help but be enthralled with the political pandemonium that is the abortion rights crisis in Poland.

Relocating to Poland from NYC has provided the perfect opportunity to deep-dive into my fascination with motherhood, which has always been a motif in my work.


For 5 years, I documented the relationship between my mother and her mother (my grandmother). In 2015, I produced a short documentary called “SUSAN" that further explored their mother/daughter dynamics. As I’ve entered “child-bearing” age, my anxieties concerning motherhood have only increased.


It is in this way that I identify with Polish women, who have only recently begun to discuss their own experiences with abortion and voice their fears about motherhood at large. But for many, sharing this information with anyone - even family - remains out of the question.


I set out to hear these stories, interviewing women from different backgrounds about their medical abortions. In this process, I discovered a parallel between my own questions about motherhood and those many women in Poland are currently facing when it comes to their choice (or lack thereof) to become mothers. 

above: my mother and me on a gondola / 1997

CZWARTEK is an amalgamation of the themes that inspire me most —the stories of everyday women, the complexities that exist within motherhood, and the ways in which our innermost conflicts manifest/externalize in our daily lives. //

my mother (left) and her mother (above) on a gondola / 1964