1. Where are you from and where are you living right now?Ā
I spent 18 years in Bytom, my hometown, in Poland. Itās in an industrial region with many coal mines that are shut down. The greyest part of Poland. I left straight after high school to work in Birmingham, and earn money for my first DSLR. After a year of full-time work as a waitress, I moved to Glasgow with my DSLR and started working as a commercial photographer. In 2014 I started studying at the Glasgow School of Art and I graduated in June 2018. Iām currently based between Poland and Glasgow, but Iām open for opportunitiesĀ everywhere.
2. Does the place you live in affect your art and practice?Ā
In my first years at the Glasgow School of Art, my projects mainly focused on homesickness. My first book is titled Longing For Belonging. I was missing my family and Poland, but also my childhood that I understood by taking photographs back home. For many years in Glasgow, my projects were shot either in Poland or when traveling. I easily loose inspirations when I get very familiar with the place or people that surround me. I like seeing things for the first time and I like touristy places where no one cares that you walk around
with the camera and take photographs of people. On the other hand, I like to photograph my grandparentās house and their garden, or the place on the Polish seaside I used to go on holidays. Iām very nostalgic. The place I live in is definitely affecting my practice, also because of the inspirations around ā better art scene, more exhibitions, talks, artists I meet ā Iām more inspired. And having studio changes a lot ā having my own room just for art. And access to
facilities. I miss being a student at the Glasgow School of Art where I had it all.
3. How does being a female photographer influence your work? Do you encounter any challenges in your practice related to that?Ā
I donāt think it influences my work. I could be male or female it does not make any difference in the work. In the galleries, I donāt look if the artists are male or female. I treat all people the same, regarding gender and what matters to me is their work.
The photography world, however, is male-dominated. I know it from commercial photography, attending to the camera clubs in small towns or just by looking at the jury at each open call or lists of the gallery owners. But people like me are here to make the change. Iām working as a wedding photographer and often I work with a male assistant. Few times wedding guests asked him about his assistant, being sure that because Iām female Iām the assistant. I recently run a women in the art photography workshop and when I got to the location, the staff asked me three times if I was the participant. Because Iām young (25) and female. The workshop went well but only guys attended. No female photographers interested in supporting female artists. I was surprised. During the workshop, I asked the participants to show their portfolio to give them feedback. One, older photographer presented his photos of young girls in the studio, close-ups on their bodies. During my talk, he often asks about āwhere do I get those skinny models fromā. And this is a problem.Ā
4. Do you want to share something about your body of work?Ā What are you working on right now?
I am an observer. Through digital and analogue photography, still and moving images, I explore the potential ground that exists between fine art and documentary photography. Drawing inspiration from various conditions of the reality around me, from the great interest in the modern, dynamic art scene but also from my personal experiences, I believe in the power of images to convey the emotions, truths and challenges of modern reality. Having spent the majority of my life away from my motherland, I often return to the theme of homesickness and belonging in my artwork.
My approach to picture making is to present ordinary, non idealized, never staged reality. Such practice is the formulation of an interest in things as they are. By using only one lens which is the most similar to a human field of view, I am capturing the moments and non-moments that drag my attention. I am a sentimental and nostalgic artist and the camera is the best tool to anchor oneself to memories and emotions that are constantly fleeting.
My work starts with a strong interest in the moment, light or a situation. The process of looking begins before taking a photograph and continues afterwards. Selecting pictures, printing, making connections, framing or setting up an exhibition space, all of it seems connected to the way of seeing. I immerse myself in the medium fully and utterly.
Celebration is a project that came to live naturally, and even surprisingly, during my third-year of study at the Glasgow School of Art, where I have been working a lot as an event photographer to support my art career. As I was busy with events, I had no time to make a project for a group exhibition. Instead, I thought I would search through my hard drive and commercial shots and try to find at least one good picture I could print for the show. When searching for that one photograph Iāve noticed something quite interesting. I was capturing the moments that were not really about celebrating the events themselves. The function room corners, where no one is dancing, became almost like empty theatre sets, and the feeling that if I would just slightly move my camera I would capture a big group of people dancing or eating, was something that fascinates me. The ability to present the situation within one frame, with no sound, with no description of whatās happening next to it. Just one frame, for the viewerās imagination, to make a story of that moment. Iāve been noticing that, when taking pictures of kids during the big events, like the photographs of a girl lying down next to the buffet ā taken on her parentās wedding renewal. But these photographs were not showing kids having fun or dancing, but escaping into their own fantasy, careless, doing whatever they want to do.
Currently Iām working on a project about my grandma ā she was forced to resettle during the second world war from Lviv to Poland. Over the past 40 years, she was trying to recover the propertyā her family house. Unfortunately, she got rejected as one document about her grandparents was missing. I would love to travel to Ukraine with her, but this project means great costs, also in production as a book or exhibition. So, Iām working on applications for funds and Iām preparing for my next show in the Royal Scottish Academy in March ā New Contemporaries. Iām super excited!
5. How do you get inspiration? Who do you admire?Ā
I get inspirations from everyday life, from everything around me, from books I read (like the project What If We Can See More inspired by the story of a color-blind painter), music, movies, people I met and places I visit. I get inspired by exhibitions I see, art events I attend, and read a lot about contemporary photography. Instagram is also a good tool for research if of course, you filter it well. But mostly I get inspirations from my feelings, for many years Iāve been working on homesickness subject as it was one of the strongest feelings I have ever experienced.Ā
6. Do you shoot mostly color or black and white? Why?Ā
I shoot black and white on film and color on digital. Strange preferences, I know. I usually carry two cameras but they have the same lens ā 50mm, 1.8. I actually never used the zoom lens. In 50mm I like that what I shoot is what I see. If I want to get it closer, I need to come closer.
Follow her work here:Ā www.nataliaponiatowska.com
