Bodies Fragments

The ‘Bodies Fragments’ exhibition presents a distinctive part of the oeuvre of Wojciech Plewiński, one of Poland’s most outstanding photographers,, his artistic explorations of the body. Alongside iconic series such as ‘Przenikania’ (‘Permeations’) we will present works never shown before, including those revealing the behind-the-scenes of his creative process.

The exhibition is the result of the artist’s findings in his own archive. It is a review of works forgotten or never notices by Plewiński himself, and reinterpreted years later, sometimes with the attention directed elsewhere. The Body is the central theme, captured up close, in fragments, in motion, at rest, in various, ever experimental compositions incorporating not only bodies of the photographed subjects, but also the artist himself.

Wojciech Plewiński has always sought for his own visual language, regardless of the subject matter. He is an architect by education, which is why his photographs reveal a passion for form and structure, and a playfulness with and through them. The body, its build, as well as the symbolism and eroticism relating to it, are themes present in the artist’s work throughout all stages of his extraordinary life. As a photographer associated with ‘Przekrój’ magazine for many years, Wojciech Plewiński took some of the most famous photographs of young women, Polish artists and models of the 1950s and 1960s. The ‘Bodies Fragments’ exhibition proposes a different perspective on his creative output in regard of his approach to the body as a subject of interest. Equally the bodies of others as much as his own, carefully photographed in a series of annual birthday self-portraits.

The exhibition will also be an opportunity for broader reflection on the iconography of the body in photography. Also in regards to the socio-political reality of Plewiński’s time. Educational program will be a vital part of the presentation as it will allow for a new interpretation of Plewiński’s work, but also introduce the public to complex themes related to how the body is portrayed in visual arts and culture.