Encounters with Photography in Michalowice – Katarzyna Karczmarz

On 18 February 2011 the first of a few in a series Encounters with Photography in Michalowice, in hospitable interiors of the Cinema Theatre, took place. Our honourable guest was Katarzyna Karczmarz who presented photographs of a famous exhibition “People and Things”, which was recently shown in Pusta Gallery in Katowice. Most of the guest present that evening had already seen the images but only in publications of various sources, so it was absolutely exciting to have a look at them in reality.

It appeared that the portraits of artists from Plawna made the greatest impression that evening. Simple, kind and sincere faces looking straight into, first Katarzyna’s, and then our eyes, are natural and unique. Moreover, they like Katarzyna, and so, in a way, us, too.

A big surprise to all participants of the evening was that Katarzyna brought only two out of quite a few of her photographs with still life. Tiny things, like a piece of paper or a dry leaf, wrapped in soft light, arranged in the same sort of quiet mood, pretend to be seen as monuments commemorating the past. And indeed, each of the still life images is dear to the author due to the memories it evokes, so each of the photographs would need the author's comment, but, on the other hand, Katarzyna said that still life period is over and she did not pay so much attention to those photographs any more.