Untitled

2015 - Photography (Photography)

51 x 41 cm

Joanna Piotrowska


This selection of photographs taken between 2014 and 2019 focus on Piotrowska’s long-term preoccupation with issues of domesticity and containment. The images depict young isolated women in domestic environments, holding various unnatural postures: we see a hand raised to a face, as if in a trance; limbs precariously balanced or ambiguously entangled, contorted against an unseen adversary. It is unclear whether gestures are benign or threatening, whether these women are menacing or being menaced. These photographs are inspired by illustrated self-defense manuals and the work of feminist and psychologist Carol Gilligan. Piotrowska appropriates the formulaic step-by-step approach of the manuals but instead of showing two people in contact, she photographs the (re)actions of one woman in conflict with an unknown, absent subject. Gilligan’s research for its part revealed a tendency in adolescent girls to silence their inner voice to comply with the structures of patriarchal society, Piotrowska seeks to (re)present their agency in corporeal form, and depicts – through the invisible opponent – the underlying pressures they have to confront.


Photographer and filmmaker Joanna Piotrowska explores issues such as the female condition, family dynamics, and post-Soviet Poland, through black and white images that depict the quotidian. Her work investigates the symbolic and invisible power structures that constrain personal behaviors, singling out how culture, politics, and history impact each person’s intimate and emotional life. Documenting gestures of care, self protection, or control, Piotrowska’s images render these daily scenes uncanny through attentive composition. Piotrowska does not consider her photographs to be documentary but rather sees them as performances, where the characters’ poses, facial expressions and movements are carefully directed.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Roman Baths Beneath a Museum in Croatia
© » ARTNET

The pool, mosaic floors and underfloor heating once formed part of Emperor Diocletian’s palace...

Art Basel reveals 287 leading galleries and expanded city-wide program for its 2024 edition in Basel, Switzerland (News)
© » ARTEFUSE

Art Basel reveals 287 leading galleries and expanded city-wide program for its 2024 edition in Basel, Switzerland (News) - ArteFuse Art Basel reveals 287 leading galleries and expanded city-wide program for its 2024 edition in Basel, the first led by the show’s new Director Maike Cruse With 287 premier galleries from 40 countries and territories, Art Basel will once again bring together the international art world at its marquee fair in Basel, Switzerland...

Dutch Emerging: Ruben Janssen X GRA Fashion Bachelor 2023
© » DIANE PERNET

Dutch Emerging: Ruben Janssen X GRA Fashion Bachelor 2023 – A Shaded View on Fashion From the back to the middle and around again — Ria’s wedding dress, Alan’s patterns and John’s model: ‘My project is an investigation into evolution, explored through prisms of biology, computation and a poetic personal narrative, shifting between timescales on an evolutionary timeline...

Sólheimasandur
© » KADIST

Calderón & Piñeros (La Decanatura)

2018

Calderón & Piñeros (La Decanatura) refer to Sólheimasandur as a work that tackles the issue of “the ruin as a tourist destination.” As they say, “at the end, tourists become an essential part of this unusual, beautiful, and—at the same time—banal landscape.” The video features a plane wreck on Sólheimasandur beach in Iceland, where a navy plane belonging to the United States Army crashed in 1973 due to fuel exhaustion...

Wages for Facebook
© » KADIST

Wages For Facebook began as an artistic project, drawing upon ideas and texts from a 1970s feminist activist campaign as means to think through relationships of capitalism, class and affective labor at stake within social media today...

A Long-Lost Pompeii Treasure Was Found in the Basement of a Family Home in Belgium
© » ARTNET

The precious marble was brought home 50 years ago as a souvenir after a family vacation in Italy...

Capturing Time
© » KADIST

Capturing Time September 13 – November 8, 2009 Kadist Art Foundation is pleased to announce the first exhibition to be drawn from its collection...

BSA Images Of The Week: 12.10.23
© » BROOKLYN STREET ART

BSA Images Of The Week: 12.10.23 | Brooklyn Street Art BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! Great to see everyone last night at the Museum of Graffiti for the book launch of Mana Public Arts ...

Things Entangling
© » KADIST

Things Entangling Edited by Che Kyongfa and Elodie Royer Designed by Toshimasa Kimura Published by Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) and KADIST The publication is available in pdf — see links on the right side of this page Things Entangling was published on the occasion of the eponymous collective exhibition presented at MOT, Tokyo from June 9 to September 27, 2020, the culmination of a long-term curatorial collaboration between MOT and KADIST...

8 Possible Beginnings or: The Creation of African-America
© » KADIST

Kara Walker

2005

In her masterpiece 8 Possible Beginnings or The Creation of African-America , Walker unravels just that, the story of struggle, oppression, escape and the complexities of power dynamics in the history following slave trade in America...

People Can Be Prescribed “Photography” as a Mental Health Treatment in the UK
© » MODERN MET PHOTOGRAPHY

People in the UK Can Be Prescribed Photography to Treat Mental Health Home / Science / Health People Can Be Prescribed “Photography” as a Mental Health Treatment in the UK By Margherita Cole on December 6, 2023 Photo: olhovyi_photographer/ Depositphotos Creative outlets like drawing and painting are great ways of exploring your emotions and relieving stress...

Otobong Nkanga: Comot Your Eyes Make I Borrow You Mine
© » KADIST

Otobong Nkanga’s Comot Your Eyes Make I Borrow You Mine explores what it means when material abundance is replaced by absence, and when desire is superseded by cool disinterest...

Le Droit à l’oubli — Musée Transitoire #3
© » SLASH PARIS

Le Droit à l’oubli — Musée Transitoire #3 — Musée Transitoire — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook Le Droit à l’oubli — Musée Transitoire #3 — Musée Transitoire — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back Previous Next Le Droit à l’oubli — Musée Transitoire #3 Exhibition Mixed media Jean-Charles de Quillacq, vue de l’exposition Le Droit à l’oubli, Musée Transitoire #3 © Musée Transitoire Le Droit à l’oubli Musée Transitoire #3 Ends in about 2 months: January 26 → March 30, 2024 Date de clôture provisoire Artistes : Bas Jan Ader, Mégane Brauer, Sarah Bucher, A...

n°5 The International Sail
© » KADIST

Enrique Ramirez

2017

Ramirez’s The International Sail is the fifth in a series that features an upside-down worn out, mended and fragmented boat sail...

98m (the Height of the Campanile, San Marco, Venice, in Super 8mm Film)
© » KADIST

Elizabeth McAlpine

2005

Elizabeth McAlpine’s work frequently deals with time based issues as well as the experience of watching...

The Site Where Alexander the Great was Crowned King Reopens and More News
© » ART & OBJECT

The Site Where Alexander the Great was Crowned King Reopens and More News | Art & Object Skip to main content Subscribe to our free e-letter! Webform Your Email Address Role Art Collector/Enthusiast Artist Art World Professional Academic Country USA Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ascension Island Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canary Islands Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Ceuta & Melilla Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo - Brazzaville Congo - Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard & McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao SAR China Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Outlying Oceania Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka St...

24624759624891410 2516…And then there were none
© » KADIST

Arin Rungjang

2017

246247596248914102516… And then there were none narrates a semi fictional account centered around the ambiguous history of the Democracy Monument in Bangkok, and on the aftermath of the 1973 demonstration of 400,000 people who marched against the military junta from Thammasat University to the monument...

Masterpiece in the Water
© » KADIST

Lu Pingyuan

2016

Masterpiece in the Water by Lu Pingyuan tells the story of an impatient collector who is killed by an artist...

The Art World This Week: Art Basel Miami, Anselm Kiefer Sculpture Stolen, US Repatriations, and More
© » MUTUALART

Everything you need to know about the most important headlines from the world of art in the last seven days...

Kitt Bennett Crafts Record-Breaking ‘Gif-iti’
© » HIGH FRUCTOSE

Kitt Bennett's "aerial mural work" was recently combined with satellite technology to craft the world's most massive independently created piece of "gif-iti" (or GIF-style graffiti) on 96,875-square-feet of waterfront space in Australia...