oliwia kohnke
PORTFOLIO
Few words about me. In the end of 2016 I graduated from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, with a masters degree of Fine Arts. My main field of work is traditional printmaking and photography. Although my biggest passion is traditional darkroom photography, I am also interested a lot in drawing, painting, illustrating, designing and animation. I like to collaborate with other artists, the visual ones as well as with musicians or poets. I have many interests and ideas and I am also open for other suggestions. I am interested in gaining new experiences in which my artistic skills can flourish and will find a practical usage as well.
This photograph, as well as all the next ones, comes from my diploma work entitled “I’m here and I’m not anywhere”. The whole work includes 26 analog photographs about which you can read below.
The subject of the whole series oscillates around the loss, getaway and constant seeking for oneself. What inspired me to this theme is my own observations and thoughts about the world, the external as well as the inner one. On each of the photographs appears the same one permeating person. It is not known if she is really there or who she is. She appears in many different places, she is restless, anxious, doesn’t stop, constantly wanders. All the photos were made in Finland during my stay there on the Erasmus students exchange. I chose places with a specific atmosphere, abandoned and ruined buildings,
bonkers and other interesting spots. Also the typical finnish landscape can be seen there forests and lakes. Some of the shots I made in the studio to emphasize the lonely person in an empty space. To accentuate the restlessness of the person being in the constant movement I used the long exposure times. The prints I also made in traditional way, experimenting with the effects that can be gained with unconventional use of the photographic chemicals. I observed a lot how the individual reagents react with each other and with the different papers. The effect of the mixing of the chemicals was the extraction of the silver onto the paper surface, which made the results very unique and unrepeatable. With a little more of practise it can also be controlled. The purpose of this process was giving a very peculiar character to the photos and enhancement of their significance.