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Sokolowska, Ursula
Medium
photography
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Contact the artist
Website: Ursula Sokolowska |
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ARTIST BIO
Ursula Sokolowska was born in Krakow, Poland. She studied photography at Columbia College (1997-99), completing her BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2001. Although her work is deeply personal, her images are also a reflection of separation of the body from consciousness and objectification. Her photographs can be found in many public and private collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Tanqueray. Selected exhibitions include The Travelling Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, Saatchi Gallery, Zoo Art Fair, the Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom, Minnesota Center for Photography, and Schneider Gallery, Chicago, IL. Her work has appeared in CameraArts magazine, Light & Lens: Photography in the Digital Age, and featured in the Chicago Tribune. |
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STATEMENT
The urban landscapes of Chicago have been an underlying thread throughout my work. From my early projection photographs in 2000, to the Constructed Family series 2006-2008, and my most recent work in portraiture. This body of work titled Chicago, presents scenes that have a life all their own. The streets of the city are alive and presenting a stage for interaction.
This work examines the trauma and uncertainty carried from childhood. In particular, I am referencing my own upbringing as a Polish immigrant. There is an undercurrent of helplessness and misdirection linked to a sort of schizophrenic parenting, excommunication, and constant movement. Typically, the perception of children handed down by my elders was that children did not have a choice. Frequently, I heard a Polish equivalent of the phrase "Children should be seen not heard". I am attempting to give these children voices.
These photographs are projection-based installations. The models are mannequins and their faces are projections. The faces of the children are slides that my father took of me when he was still involved in my life. The other slides are present day images that I have shot of my mom, my dad, and myself. My goal is to reconstruct my own childhood, empowering the past for better or for worse. The result is a troubling recreation of events that may seem disturbing but are far less in context to the real events that transpired.
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