Belarus in Faces (part XCIV): Sjerafima Shpakouskaja with her great-granddaughter Paulinka, Mjasjatsichy 2013. Беларусь у тварах (частка XCIV): спадарыня Серафіма Шпакоўская з праўнучкай Паўлінкай, Мясяцічы 2013 год.
Many villages on both sides of the Pripet River (Prypjats’ – Прыпяць) to the east of Pinsk retain some of the architecture and pace of life — and the villagers retain the Polesian self-reliance, resourcefulness, and laconic sense of humor — of earlier times.
In six years of exploring the area, I had passed several times through one such village, Mjasjatsichy, always stopping to photograph its fine Polesian wooden church (1794).
This time something in the mix of mid-August light and cool shadows drew me into Mjasjatsichy’s winding side streets. A mother and daughter, hard at work finishing their pumpkin harvest, called out in easy banter when they saw me photographing an old wooden barn. They allowed me to take their portrait. The daughter then offered to introduce me to their neighbor across the street, 88-year-old Sjerafima Shpakouskaja. When I caught sight of Mrs. Shpakouskaja, she was bent over, absorbed in weeding her vegetable plot. At my approach, she greeted me in that timeless, dignified way which is so deeply Belarusian. With gentle humor she agreed to let me take her portrait, and we were able to get her great-granddaughter Paulinka, playing in the yard, to join.
