Frowst
by Joanna Piotrowska
Photographs: Joanna Piotrowska
Publisher: Mack Books
48 pages pages
Pictures: 28 tritone plates
Year: June 2014
ISBN: 9781910164105
Comments: 23,5 x 26,5 cm, hardcover
Every activity in the relationship with a father allows “I” to develop, and at the same time destroys “I”. I find the father everywhere, where I think it’s me. There is no landscape without father.’ Franz Kafka, Letter to His Father
Joanna Piotrowska’s uncomfortable album, a series of staged family shots, insists upon the fundamental anxiety at the heart of the family: its system of relationships, adamantine bonds that are equally oppressive and rewarding. Her images display intimate family scenes – cosily paired bodies, meeting and converging, in images which teeter on the verge of a dysfunctional moment. In one snapshot, two adult brothers lie together on a Persian carpet wearing only white briefs; in another, the black-clothed bodies of two embracing women merge, suggesting the atavistic overlap of mother and daughter. The title itself, which denotes a warm or stuffy atmosphere, captures the paradoxical nature of the family: frowsty spaces are both cosy and claustrophobic, intimate and airless.
The images are carefully staged: Piotrowska asked her family subjects to pose in almost sculptural gestures, re-enacting moments of intimacy – repeating spontaneous instants of tenderness, in performances which are imbued with a plethora of new meanings. Influenced by the philosophy of the German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger, Piotrowska integrated movements and gestures from Hellinger’s therapeutic method Family Constellations, which attempts to expose and heal multi-generational trauma. Her black-and-white images, intentionally nostalgic for lost moment of happiness, are shrewd observations of the tension of self that pervades every family dynamic.
Joanna Piotrowska is a Polish photographer who recently completed her MA at Royal College of Art, London. She has exhibited her work internationally in Ireland, Spain, Poland, Russia, France, Latvia and in the UK. Works from FROWST have been included in Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2013, and in the exhibition ‘Jerwood Encounters: Family Politics’, curated by Photoworks.
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Frowst
by Joanna Piotrowska
Photographs: Joanna Piotrowska
Publisher: Mack Books
48 pages pages
Pictures: 28 tritone plates
Year: June 2014
ISBN: 9781910164105
Comments: 23,5 x 26,5 cm, hardcover
Every activity in the relationship with a father allows “I” to develop, and at the same time destroys “I”. I find the father everywhere, where I think it’s me. There is no landscape without father.’ Franz Kafka, Letter to His Father
Joanna Piotrowska’s uncomfortable album, a series of staged family shots, insists upon the fundamental anxiety at the heart of the family: its system of relationships, adamantine bonds that are equally oppressive and rewarding. Her images display intimate family scenes – cosily paired bodies, meeting and converging, in images which teeter on the verge of a dysfunctional moment. In one snapshot, two adult brothers lie together on a Persian carpet wearing only white briefs; in another, the black-clothed bodies of two embracing women merge, suggesting the atavistic overlap of mother and daughter. The title itself, which denotes a warm or stuffy atmosphere, captures the paradoxical nature of the family: frowsty spaces are both cosy and claustrophobic, intimate and airless.
The images are carefully staged: Piotrowska asked her family subjects to pose in almost sculptural gestures, re-enacting moments of intimacy – repeating spontaneous instants of tenderness, in performances which are imbued with a plethora of new meanings. Influenced by the philosophy of the German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger, Piotrowska integrated movements and gestures from Hellinger’s therapeutic method Family Constellations, which attempts to expose and heal multi-generational trauma. Her black-and-white images, intentionally nostalgic for lost moment of happiness, are shrewd observations of the tension of self that pervades every family dynamic.
Joanna Piotrowska is a Polish photographer who recently completed her MA at Royal College of Art, London. She has exhibited her work internationally in Ireland, Spain, Poland, Russia, France, Latvia and in the UK. Works from FROWST have been included in Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2013, and in the exhibition ‘Jerwood Encounters: Family Politics’, curated by Photoworks.
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Frowst
by Joanna Piotrowska
Photographs: Joanna Piotrowska
Publisher: Mack Books
48 pages pages
Pictures: 28 tritone plates
Year: June 2014
ISBN: 9781910164105
Comments: 23,5 x 26,5 cm, hardcover
Every activity in the relationship with a father allows “I” to develop, and at the same time destroys “I”. I find the father everywhere, where I think it’s me. There is no landscape without father.’ Franz Kafka, Letter to His Father
Joanna Piotrowska’s uncomfortable album, a series of staged family shots, insists upon the fundamental anxiety at the heart of the family: its system of relationships, adamantine bonds that are equally oppressive and rewarding. Her images display intimate family scenes – cosily paired bodies, meeting and converging, in images which teeter on the verge of a dysfunctional moment. In one snapshot, two adult brothers lie together on a Persian carpet wearing only white briefs; in another, the black-clothed bodies of two embracing women merge, suggesting the atavistic overlap of mother and daughter. The title itself, which denotes a warm or stuffy atmosphere, captures the paradoxical nature of the family: frowsty spaces are both cosy and claustrophobic, intimate and airless.
The images are carefully staged: Piotrowska asked her family subjects to pose in almost sculptural gestures, re-enacting moments of intimacy – repeating spontaneous instants of tenderness, in performances which are imbued with a plethora of new meanings. Influenced by the philosophy of the German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger, Piotrowska integrated movements and gestures from Hellinger’s therapeutic method Family Constellations, which attempts to expose and heal multi-generational trauma. Her black-and-white images, intentionally nostalgic for lost moment of happiness, are shrewd observations of the tension of self that pervades every family dynamic.
Joanna Piotrowska is a Polish photographer who recently completed her MA at Royal College of Art, London. She has exhibited her work internationally in Ireland, Spain, Poland, Russia, France, Latvia and in the UK. Works from FROWST have been included in Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2013, and in the exhibition ‘Jerwood Encounters: Family Politics’, curated by Photoworks.
more books tagged »family« | >> see all
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Easter and Oak Trees (signed)
by Bertien van Manen
sold out -
At the Edge of the World (signed)
by Alain Laboile
sold out -
One Circle (review copy)
by Fred Hüning
sold out -
Semi Maru (signed)
by Atsushi Fujiwara
sold out -
The Way We Were (signed - last copy)
by Richard Bartholomew, Pablo Bartholomew
sold out -
Nachlass. (last copy)
by Kai-Olaf Hesse
Euro 35
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Side Effects (first edition - signed)
by Kacper Kowalski
sold out -
The Gardener (book + print)
by Jan Brykczynski
sold out -
One Picture Book 76: Portraits ii (signed + print)
by Leon Borensztein
Euro 89 -
Poland - In search of diamonds
by Tomasz Wiech
Euro 33 -
At the Border (last copy)
by Sputnik Photos
Euro 125 -
Swell (last copy)
by Mateusz Sarello
sold out
more books tagged »portrait« | >> see all
-
The Hidden Mother
by Linda Fregni Nagler
sold out -
Amc2 journal Issue 8 (signed - last copy)
by Thomas Sauvin
sold out -
Pictures
by Achim Lippoth
Euro 48 33.60 -
Work (signed)
by Brian Griffin
Euro 165 -
American Dream (signed)
by Agnieszka Rayss
Euro 40 -
KARCZEBY
by Adam Panczuk
sold out
more books tagged »black and white« | >> see all
-
Sentimental Journey (last two copies)
by Nobuyoshi Araki
sold out -
Albania (signed)
by Reiner Riedler
Euro 50 -
JAPAN DRUG (signed)
by António Júlio Duarte
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Ice Chaosmos
by Jungho Jung
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Inner City (London)
by Peter Köllerer
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