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, for IMAnext
Kawecki’s photographs from his childhood home is a touching body of work of the presence and absence of his beloved grandmother. He describes the portraits he takes of her as a collective work, his and hers together and they blossom with feelings of love, nostalgia but also sadness. The combination of a strong personal story and beautiful photographs is something that I find deeply touching.
-Pauline Benthede, for LensCulture
(Global Director of Exhibitions
Fotografiska International Sweden)
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