Photographs by Rafał Biernicki

Showroom Pixel Grain
September 14 to December 2018

Rafał Biernicki's visual artworks are created using pre-digital photographic techniques and historical processes: "In my work, I primarily use methods of direct light capture. I am not interested in reproduction. I create unique pieces that capture precisely that one moment in which light sensitivity and chemical processes generate the individual image of the subject."

The ferrotypes of landscapes from Portugal and Scotland are overlaid with darkening effects and streaks; some areas of the image are almost unrecognizable. These are characteristics of the process, which were deliberately emphasized during its creation. As a result, the photographic works appear as if they have undergone decades of aging. This historicizing effect has a strong alienating quality, while simultaneously creating an atmospheric intensification. Biernicki's photographs seem unreal and poetic, possessing a unique beauty and timelessness. The landscapes thus staged appear as symbols of melancholic states of mind. In contrast to these landscapes are the portrait ambrotypes on glass plates: these, in turn, focus not on the human face but on the landscape itself, veined stones, and the undulation of hills and valleys.

Born in Sandomierz in 1972, Polish art photographer Rafał Biernicki is known for his use of antique large-format cameras and for his work in ambrotype and ferrotype. He began taking photographs in 1990 and has also worked as a photojournalist since 1997.

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