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Witek Orski on portraying the residents My main purpose was to focus on the residents‘ artistic practice, to portray not so much themselves as their projects. The procedure in each case was identical: first we met and had a long conversation, then a I shot a classic portrait session in my studio, and finally I meticulously arranged and shot still lifes featuring the studio portraits. The compositions in which Karolina, Mohammad, Jaśmina, Joanna, and Mirna appear relate to the topics and issues they deal with in their art, be it the surprising politicality of thyme, gardening/ agricultural activism, recycling in hopeless conditions, the demonic nature of stones, or fermented foods as a marker of cultural identity.
Witek Orski (b. 1985) is a visual artist and photographer, the author of photographs, photographic installations, and videos. His artistic practice can be defined as postconceptual photography. Holding an MA in Philosophy from the University of Warsaw, he is currently studying for a PhD at the Faculty of Intermedia of the University of the Arts, Poznań as well as lecturing at the Faculty of Painting and New Media at the Art Academy of Szczecin. He has shown his work in numerous exhibitions in Poland, including at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Arsenał Gallery Białystok, or BWA Zielona Góra, as well as abroad – in Berlin, Budapest, Bratislava, Düsseldorf, Copenhagen, New York, Tokyo, Turin, or Paris. He lives and works in Warsaw.
