Foto Pracownia Wschodnia invites you to a photography exhibition by Maria Książek.

Second life – is a very positive message about human life after difficult life experiences, shown through the example of dry leaves.

In autumn, during the pandemic, looking for a photographic subject in my garden, I decided to pick a few from a pile of dry leaves; creating sets for them and choosing the right lighting, I made them my models, the objects photographed. With this gesture I gave them a new meaning. By transferring them to the world of art I gave them a second life.

Second life – is a series of black and white photographs made by the traditional method on 35 mm film, with prints made by hand in the darkroom process on baryta paper in the 30x40 cm format. The prints are of collector's value.

The style of these photographs refers to the early 20th-century movement known as pictorialism, which was characterised by photography's departure from its documentary role in favour of a direction close to the aesthetics of painting and drawing. And just as with Alfred Stieglitz, they express personal expression, while, following another representative of this movement, Edward Weston, great attention is focused on the details of the photographed objects, thanks to which the ordinary becomes extraordinary.

Maria Książek

I create emotional photography, using in this process both traditional and digital photography, black and white as well as colour aesthetics, the aesthetics of error and the possibilities of digital image processing; I mix and search for the means of expression that is right for me. I want to tell stories about people.

I am inspired by classical art, dance and music.

By education a Master of Civil Engineering from the Warsaw University of Technology and an exhibition designer.

A graduate of the Academy of Photography in Warsaw (2022), a grant holder of the College of Visual Arts Foundation (2022). Currently a first-year student at ZPAF.

Professionally an interior designer.

Opening: 28 January 2023, 19:00

link to the event: https://fb.me/e/6PlhKvb2v