In Shadows: Contemporary Photography by Marzena Abrahamik is the first of five exhibitions in the International Focus Series I-V: 21 Szutka: Contemporary Art of Poland. Instead of one long exhibition, this year’s international focus will present a series of five shows presenting a multilayered viewpoint of the different aspects of contemporary Polish art from photography, painting, installation, graphic arts to fashion from July 2012 to June 2013.
Marzena was born in Poland towards the end of the 40 years of communism imposed on Poland by Stalin. A month before she was born, a Polish man named Karol Jozef Wojtyla, became John Paul II which lead to the emergence of an autonomous union called Solidarity, formed my millions of Poles. Among them was my father. This unified anti-communist movement lead to the declaration of martial law by General Jaruzelski in 1981 and the targeting of members of the Solidarity party. Her father was arrested for smuggling anti-communist publications and upon his release he decided to escape from Poland. Although, she was only 7 years old when her family immigrated she had an understanding and vivid memories of Poland during communism; she knows why they left.
Marzena’s work revolves around questioning the human capability and willingness to overcome personal difficulty, environmental disaster or state of chaos. Her last body of work was composed during five trips to the Gulf Coast. In those photographs she focused on the tangible impact of the oil spill on the wetlands, as well as the emotional toll the spill had taken on the residents of Louisiana. In creating work around such phenomenon, she utilized the event as a historical marker and photograph the human lot, to look for clues that might point which direction humanity is headed. The photographic practice becomes an entrance point to exposing the human condition at a particular time and place.
A big part of her work has its roots in collaboration with her subjects and their willingness to be directed. Many of Marzena’s photographs can be reduced to a single gesture that speaks to the human body and our individual presence….
