Biographie
I completed my undergraduate studies at the Institute of Creative Photography at the University of Silesia in Opava (Czech Republic). I am currently engaged in the pursuit of a Master’s degree in Art and Design at the University of Krakow. Additionally, I am a lecturer at the Academy of Photography in Krakow. My work has been exhibited and published worldwide, and I have received photography awards in the USA, Poland, Japan, and Italy, among others.
My work is informed by a diverse range of natural phenomena. I conceptualise my practice as a subjective documentary, exploring the intersections between personal experience and cultural narratives. I am particu- larly drawn to the study of legends and myths.
I published my first photobook In Praise of Shadow together with Rust Publishing.
2024 ● PhMuseum 2024 Photography Grant│ shortlisted.
2024 ● Łódź Fotofestiwal│ winner
2024 ● Grand Press Photo│ winner in the Own Vision category.
2023 ● OD Photo Prize│ shortlisted
2023 ● LensCulture Critic Choice Award│ winner
2023 ● Urbanautica Institute Awards│ winner
2022 ● FUTURES Photography Talent
2022 ● Verzasca Foto Festival Awards│ winner
2022 ● Helsinki Photo Festival│ finalist
2022 ● Belfast Foto Festival│ shortlisted
2021 ● Photo Vogue Festival│ winner
Présentation
lt is by no means coincidental that the project In Praise of Shadow was created during the artist’s residency in Nowa Ruda, the most polluted city in Poland. The cool landscape intertwines the bodies of humans and non-humans. In the smog, organisms intermingle, losing their contours. Excessive human interference with the Earth has awakened a demon. We process the remains of plants and animals, manufacturing poisonous energy. We then use it to heat our bodies and power machines. Although the planet’s resources seem endless, we are only just realising how high the price we are due to pay is.
At the bottom of the cold black water lie oil, bones, plastic particles, and detritus. At the bottom of the black water, fungi and lichens grow. We drift in it; it has become too thick to move in.
Tomasz Kawecki leads the audience through stages of initiation into ecognosis. We pass through abandoned houses and mines, observing new life as it regains its autonomy, completely independent of human activity. Such places arouse unease in people; they constitute a denial of the anthropocentric order of the world, where human conviction of the uniqueness of its species is called into question. Here, human rules do not apply, nor do religious dogmas, economic, or political systems exist. Reason is also of no use. From the darkness emerge Lovecraftian hybrids that we have bred. We must now find them a place in our civilised world. We must drink the black water.