Agata Michalczyk

Providing a thoughtfully rendered mediation on both identity and cultural displacement, artist Agata Michalczyk’s Ten series makes the eye melt into the picture plane.

Each photograph is a poignantly executed self-portrait, which in essence describes Michalczyk’s emotional and nomadic journey from her homeland in Poland ten years ago. The title of the series refers to reflecting back upon this time spent long from home. Although each image portrays a sense of longing; etched within each is a memory, sense of establishing one’s identity and a sense of place and belonging. Michalczyk graduated from the Otago Polytechnic School of art with a bachelor of visual art (BVA) in photography. Michalczyk’s grew up in Soviet-era Poland in a four storey concrete block and lived with sixteen other families. Ten years ago governed by an itching to leave, Michalczyk moved to Ireland, where she struggled and then gradually adjusted to the cultural distinctions and lingual barriers. Since then she has lived what may be described as a nomadic existence, fuelled by her curiosity in exploring the world. “When you live in another country, you appreciate where you come from.” Like many of us who have travelled the experience fundamentally changes who you are as a person. For Michalczyk it has engrained her with a sense of patriotism for her homeland.

One of the most powerful images in the series is of the artist looking out into what can be described as a quintessentially New Zealand landscape in traditional Polish dress. It has an almost startling quality, which can leave one feeling breathless. In this work Michalczyk stares out aimlessly into the landscape, with her back turned to us, it suggests both nostalgia and isolation. It is rendered to a psychological, geographical and lingual reflection upon the distance between Poland and New Zealand, the unfamiliar and the familiar. But perhaps this work also suggests that Michalczyk has found a sense of place here in New Zealand, but originating from Poland will always represent who she is.

Lying in a milky white bath, Michalczyk gazes up in a sea of apples. This work is intrinsically nostalgic. It permeates upon the idea of memory, as a child Michalczyk recalled continuously eating apples and the lack of fruit variety available to people who lived in the on the Soviet bloc. The image itself is captivatingly absorbing, as the eye roves from the ghost like purity of the bath water to the boldly coloured apples and the artist’s delicate features floating in the water. The use of water also suggests the notion of rebirth.

My favourite work from this series is of Michalczyk slowly merging into a sofa. I identified both with the feeling of hiding and of trying to ‘blend in’ immediately. It radiates such a truly personal and yet immediately human reaction. It is a work that would induce any one of us to connect with. What is most beautiful about this image is that although the artist is dissolving into the couch she is still visible. This work is anchored by it’s connection to Poland and in particular to the Polish attitude of perseverance through difficult or trying circumstances.

All photos by Agata Michaelczyk