"Open Pits" is an attempt to engage in a dialogue with the seemingly endless stretch of land that remained after a section of the lignite mine near Konin was filled in back in 2021. Up until the early 2000s, this was the site of my mother's family home, along with the surrounding fields and farmstead.

In mining terminology, an open pit refers to a mineral deposit that has been exposed either naturally or through human intervention. In the case of lignite mining — where extraction takes place at the earth’s surface — the open pit forms part of the broader excavation area. This mining area includes not only the open pit itself but also various installations, machinery, and the drainage system’s pipelines.

Thus, open pits represent the processes of uncovering minerals by exposing them. For me personally, they are also attempts to uncover and piece together the hidden history of my family's demolished farm and the lands where my mother spent her childhood.

The backbone of the story is a road — a little over a kilometer long — that once led to the local primary school. Along this route stood wild apple trees, orchards, a blacksmith’s forge, and an alder grove. When the open pit excavation began, the road was severed halfway. From that point on, the landscape — and life itself — was split into two parts: one destined for mining and one that survived.

Through the lens of the former mining infrastructure, still lingering across the reclaimed terrain, we observe a panorama of land heavily exploited by human activity — flat and sparsely covered with low grasses. The operations of the open-pit mine have also brought about many less visible consequences, such as the lowering of the groundwater table and disruptions to the local ecosystem.

This raises a crucial question about the legitimacy of such mining operations: while they do provide employment for several thousand people, the extracted lignite serves primarily to fuel the nearby Pątnów-Adamów power plant.