“To Do List – To father a son, to build a house, to plant a tree” is a photographic project by Jakub Stanek, offering a deeply personal reflection on contemporary fatherhood and the redefinition of masculinity. As the father of a 10-year-old boy — present, involved, and sharing equal parental responsibilities — Stanek seeks to understand the roots of gender role stereotypes and the causes of the current imbalance within the parenting system.

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This imbalance, in the artist’s experience, became painfully apparent during a years-long legal battle for custody of his son — a process that marginalized him as a father, despite his desire and capacity to play an equal role in raising his child.

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The project centers on the crisis of masculinity, which Stanek does not see as a problem but as a chance for transformation. Within this crisis, he recognizes the opportunity to dismantle traditional male and female roles and to construct a new, more balanced vision of manhood. His photographs delve intothe emotions, challenges, and beauty of parenthood — going beyond traditional societal expectations of men as strong, stoic providers.

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The images in the series capture both intimate moments from Stanek’s life with his son and symbolic scenes that highlight the weight of stereotypes shaping the role of fathers for generations. Everyday objects, fragments of childhood, and domestic scenes serve as visual metaphors for the tension between inherited norms and Stanek’s aspirations for greater involvement and equality.

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“To Do List” is also an attempt to open a conversation about the marginalization of fathers within legal and social systems that often default to mothers as the primary caregivers. Through his work, Jakub Stanek demonstrates that fatherhood is far more than a checklist — to father a son, to build a house, to plant a tree — a phrase long upheld as the essence of a man’s purpose. Parenthood, as he shows, is time, love, commitment, and the ability to build deep, lasting bonds with one’s children.