The work Pospolite Vulgaris [Common Vulgaris] tells of the determination, intelligence and strength of common plant species.

Protective armour, thorns, hooks, filters, poisons. The constant upgrading of plants' equipment in the struggle for survival gives humans an astonishing example of disobedience, stubbornness and ingenuity.

Common elders, spindle trees and burdocks are plants that grow close to us, silently waging a struggle against the Sixth Extinction. Does the flora that faces it develop new life processes, refine its old protective systems, adapting anew in order to sustain its existence once again?

Working on the project has a personal dimension for me. It is an attempt to overcome the activist burnout I experienced after several years of involvement in grassroots climate movements. Observing plant strategies of resistance, the evolution of flora fighting against the law of immobility, I look for energy and a sense of hope, mobilising myself to act.

Pospolite Vulgaris is the beginning of a multi-year research project

• Text accompanying the exhibition: Tomasz Sitarz
• Lighting: Grzegorz Wełnicki
• Technical support: Łukasz Zembaty / Gustaw Maj
• Content support: Jędrzej Owsiński
• Laboratory support: Pracownia Foto / Pracownia Wschodnia
• Printing: Paweł Ciepielewski // supported by Kacper Bartczak

Paulina Mirowska

A visual artist and activist, born in 1987 in Warsaw. A graduate of the Faculty of Multimedia Communication at the University of the Arts in Poznań, in Photography and in Graphic Design and Visual Communication. She has worked in the Fundamentals of Photography Studio at the Faculty of Graphic Arts of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw since 2011.

A member of the Pracownia Wschodnia association, the Grupa JEST collective and the P.H.U. Sitex collective.

For years she has taken an active part in independent group and individual activities, combining analogue photography, sculpture, printmaking and self-publishing. She has co-authored many installations and community events. She believes in the power of artistic and social action and in revising everyday human practices around questions of ecology and of co-creating a habitat on equal terms with plants and animals.