In Tomasz Kawecki’s series, a Lair, there is a photograph that made me gasp. An elderly woman, presumably naked, reclines on a bed with snail shells covering her eyes. The swirl of the shells evokes a state of hypnosis or hallucination. The viewer becomes the dreamer with visions of anthropomorphic objects, dark forests and pond fires. The fact that Kawecki’s photos were made with his grandmother in his childhood home makes his project all the more meaningful. It prompts me to reflect on the boundless mix of imagination and sensory discovery one feels during childhood. Kawecki’s pictures function like his grandmother’s talismans – as portals to expanded consciousness.

-Alec Soth

𓍊 𓋼𓍊 𓋼𓍊 𓋼𓍊 𓋼𓍊 𓋼𓋼𓍊 𓋼𓍊 𓋼𓍊

Using Format