My photography weaves together reality and myth, rooted in the raw textures of the natural world and the echoes of human history. Since dedicating myself to the medium in 2018, I’ve explored documentary storytelling through a lens of subtle distortion, blending the tangible with the symbolic to create evocative, dreamlike worlds. Projects like LAIR, inspired by Slavic folklore and my childhood home in the Beskid Wyspowy mountains, delve into humanity’scyclical bond with nature. In In Praise of Shadow, I unearth the hauntingbeauty of Lower Silesia’s post-industrial landscapes, channeling dark ecologyto reveal nature’s chaotic resilience. My process balances intuition withanalytical precision, crafting images that seduce and deceive, inviting viewersto question the line between truth and fiction.
education:
2023 𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼 Institute of Creative Photography in Opava, BA Faculty of Philiosophy and Science, University of Silesia in Opava (CZ)
2015 𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼 Tadeusz Kosciuszko Cracow University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture (PL)
individual exibithions:
2024 𓋼 In Praise of Shadow 𓋼 Krakow Photomonth. Galeria Podbrzezie, Krakow (PL)
2024 𓋼 In Praise of Shadow 𓋼 Fundacja Alina, Warsaw (PL)
2023 𓋼 The Biodegradable Space 𓋼 Galerie Fotografic, Prague (CZ)
2023 𓋼 The Biodegradable Space 𓋼 IndustraArt, Brno (CZ)
2022 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 Verzasca Foto Festival 𓋼 Brione (CH)
2021 𓋼 The Biodegradable Space 𓋼 KRAKERS- Cracow Art Week, Kraków (PL)
2021 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 ShowOFF- Krakow Photomonth 𓋼 Nośna Foundation, Kraków (PL)
group exibithions:
2024 𓋼 In Praise of Shadow 𓋼 Call and Echo: A dialogue with Roger Ballen, Lishui Photography Centre, Lishui (CN)
2024 𓋼 In Praise of Shadow 𓋼 Fotofestiwal, Open Program, Art Inkubator, Łódź (PL)
2024 𓋼 In Praise of Shadow 𓋼 screening at the Polish Institute in Paris during Les Rencontres d'Arles (FR)
2024 𓋼 In Praise of Shadow 𓋼 FETISH, Zone Magazine, 2xMuse, Vercelli (IT)
2024 𓋼 The Biodegradable Space 𓋼 2138 - Cracow Art Week, General Post Office, Krakow (PL)
2023 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 OD photo prize, Open Doors Gallery, London (UK)
2023 𓋼 In Praise of Shadow 𓋼 Post-residency exhibition, MIA art gallery, Nowa Ruda & Wrocław (PL)
2023 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 PEP: New Talents 2022 𓋼 gallery 254Forest, Brussels (BE)
2022 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 Indian Photo Festival 𓋼 State Art Gallery, Hyderabad (IN)
2022 𓋼 Sopot Photography Festival 𓋼 State Art Gallery in Sopot (PL)
2022 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 Helsinki Photo Festival 𓋼 Nationam Musem in Finland, Helsinki (FI)
2022 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 FOTOFESTIWAL: Common Opava 𓋼 OFF Piotrkowska, Łódź (PL)
2021 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 LensCulture: Art Photography Awards 𓋼 Caelum Gallery, New York (US)
2021 𓋼 The Biodegradable Space 𓋼 Rybnik Foto Festival 𓋼 Rybnik (PL)
2021 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 Photo Vogue Festival: Reframing History 𓋼 BASE Milano, Milan (IT)
2021 𓋼 The Biodegradable Space 𓋼 VI Piotrkowskie Biennale of Art: Return from the stars 𓋼 Piotrków Trybunalski (PL)
2021 𓋼 On the egdes of space 𓋼 NAGA gallery, Krakow (PL)
2021 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 Houseworks 𓋼 Warsaw Gallery Weekend, Pracownia Wschodnia, Warszawa (PL)
2021 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 Blood is thicker than a water 𓋼 OFF Bratislava (SK)
2019 𓋼 Leeway 𓋼 Serce Człowieka LAW gallery, Warszawa (PL)
awards:
2024 𓋼 In Praise of Shadow 𓋼 PhMuseum 2024 Photography Grant 𓋼 shortlisted
2024 𓋼 In Praise of Shadow 𓋼 Łódź Fotofestiwal 𓋼 winner
2024 𓋼 In Praise of Shadow 𓋼 Grand Press Photo 𓋼 winner at the Own Vision category
2023 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 OD Photo Prize 𓋼 shortlisted
2023 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 LensCulture Critic Choice Award 𓋼 laureate
2023 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 Urbanautica Institute Awards 𓋼 winner
2022 𓋼 FUTURES Photography Talent
2022 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 Verzasca Foto Festival Awards 𓋼 winner
2022 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 Belfast Foto Festival 𓋼 shortlisted
2021 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 Photo Vogue Festival 𓋼 laureate
2021 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 Critical mass, Photolucida 𓋼 finalist
2021 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 IMA next "DREAM" 𓋼 GRAND PRIX winner
2021 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 Belfast Foto Festival 𓋼 shortlisted
2021 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 LensCulture Art Photography Awards 𓋼 juror's pick
2021 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 ShowOFF 𓋼 Krakow Photomonth 𓋼 winner
2020 𓋼 a Lair 𓋼 Talent of the Year 𓋼 PIX.HOUSE Gallery 𓋼 laureate
lectures and talks:
2024 𓋼 Lishui Photohraphy Festival 𓋼 Lishui (CN)
2024 𓋼 Sopoteka 𓋼 Sopot (PL)
2024 𓋼 Fundacja Alina 𓋼 Warsaw (PL)
2022 𓋼 State Gallery of Art 𓋼 Sopot (PL)
2022 𓋼 Castello Marcacci 𓋼 Brione (CH)
2021 𓋼 Tadeusz Kantor's Centre for Documentation Cricoteka 𓋼 Kraków (PL)
work in collection:
State Gallery of Art 𓋼 Public Art Collection, Sopot, PL
Private Collections 𓋼 in Poland, France, Belgium, Germany, United States, Italy
press:
see-zeen, Der Greif issue 17, Punto de Fuga, Fotopolis, nn6t, Urbanautica 2022, FOTO (CZ) printed in nr. 43, PUNKT, China Life Magazine printed in issue Path through the woods, nr. 185, Lidkovy, Miesięcznik Krakow, printed in nr. 09 (201),Vogue IT printed in nr. 856, Vogue PL, Kwartalnik Przekrój, LensCulture, Abridged magazine, The Guardian, Phmuseum
"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."
"Tomasz Kawecki’s series focuses on his childhood home. He returns to adventures, storytelling and play. In his own words it ‘rethinks riddles left unresolved’. With this grandmother as a guide we are shown flashes of archival imagery alongside assembled still life and performative portraiture- the series seeks to playfully explore our ideas of a childhood home and the unknown forest of adulthood that lays outside it’s door."
-Karen McQuaid (The Photographers’ Gallery), 2023
"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 ExhibitionsFotografiska International Sweden) 2022
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