Photographer Zuzanna Szarek with "Tel Aviv" in Philadelphia, PA

Created by Warsaw-based photographer Zuzanna Szarek, "Tel Aviv" is a series of 21 photographs created during seven trips to Israel between 2011 and 2014. When Szarek first came to the famous White City, she was struck by the whiteness of Bauhaus architecture. Dazzled by the magical beauty of hidden places, she gradually realized the reality of an imminent threat. Combining these states, she created her own aesthetic alphabet, envisioning places of harmony, an Eden-like landscape. In her works, she recognizes the attributes of everyday life and the urban landscape becomes art forms; treating them as the protagonists of images and street scenes, which form harmonious compositions and give a new quality to the spaces that she photographs. Although some elements are trivial in their essence, in the relationships created by the artist, they become more attractive and lose their anonymous character. She upgrades their profile to the character of Dadaist ready-mades and makes such objects as blinds or ventilation ducts create reality. In that world, man becomes a part of a series of interacting elements and plays the same role as the fragments of urban forms and infrastructure.

Zuzanna Szarek

Visual artist born in Warsaw, Poland in 1984. She received a Masters Degree with honors in 2010, followed by a PhD degree (2015) at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Her works has been exhibited nationally and internationally. In 2009, she participated in a group exhibition Achtung Natur at Horizonte des Fotofestival, Zingst, Germany. Her photographs were also displayed at Paris Photo (Entre Tradition et modernité - La photographie polonaise d'art de lentre-deux-guerres) and during the field trip to an open-air photographic session in Sousse, Tunisia. In Poland, she was exhibited by such renowned institutions as the Wilanów Palace, the Gallery of Klima BocheDska and the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic. She received international recognition at the International Fine Art Competition 2013 (distinction with honors - Grand Prix De La Decouverte) and Intl Photography Awards 10-year Anniversary Edition 2012 (distinction with honors).



"Tel Aviv" is presented by The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and was made possible with the support of the Polish Cultural Institute New York.

Terra Hall (Gallery 1401)
211 S Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Tel: 215-717-6030

www.polishculture-nyc.org