Together
Self portrait using projection. The original photo shows my family gathered for my aunt's nameday in 1990 (4 years before my birth). From the left: my half-sister (who now lives in the US and whom I see once a year), my mom (who now lives alone), my uncle (who passed away), my aunt (who, always very sociable, now ceased throwing parties on account of taking care of my 95-year old grandmother), my father (with whom I talk quite rarely) and my dog (who passed away).
"Holiday Resort"
My aunt on vacation under a sign saying "Holiday Resort" ca. 1990.
Sailing
My parents took my siblings on many trips, both in Poland and abroad. I on the other hand, never went on a holiday with both of my parents. From the left: my half- sister, my father with my half-brother and my aunt.
Forbidden gift
Me and my father on my 5th birthday. I was practically raised by my mother and my father was not very involved in my upbringing. He tried to "buy-in" with presents and activities that my mother disapproved of. When I was younger he gave me video games and Barbie dolls, but when I grew up, he allowed me to drink and smoke - things I could never do in front of my mother
Present
My mother in the desert in Tunisia in November 1993, exactly a year before I was born. My father took this photo. It was their last trip together.
4 eyes
My mother and my grandmother on vacation in 1995. My mother is probably taking a picture of me.
Double self-portrait
Me at age 3.
Playing grown-up
Me at my aunt's at age 4. She has always been a very fashionable lady and I loved trying on her jewelry while pretending to be a grown-up. Now, I prefer to pretend to be a child.
Reaching
Me at the Warsaw Zoo in 1999.
(T)here
I was born when my parents were 40 and no longer together while my siblings were entering adulthood. Conflict was ubiquitous in my childhood. Looking at my family portraits, however, I succumb to the illusion of happiness and bliss.
Trying to enact dreams of time travel, I question the finiteness of photography, "entering" family photos with the use of projection. I take on a triple role: of the operator, spectator and subject - and in a therapeutic way, I seize control of the crucial fragment of my familial archive, spanning through the 90s. By updating photos that I did not take, I redefine my family history, all the while creating an extensive self-portrait. I cover the past with the present and vice versa, materializing myself both there and here.
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