Photographer, and visual artist, born in 1986 in Opole, Poland; She studied photography at the National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź and at the Institute of Creative Photography at the University of Silesia in Opava. She was awarded the Photo Global scholarship at the School of Visual Arts in New York (2013). The artist uses photography to reveal invisible layers of history and its ideological conditioning, usually absent from official narratives. Playing with various conventions, from documentary to staging, she exposes hidden myths and legends, deconstructing fantasies about the past, and creating new constellations of meanings. Her objects, based on photographic images, test the boundaries of the medium. Orłowska treats photography as an instrument for exploring the concept of knowledge itself and as a tool for working with memory, which by its nature is also fragmentary. She lives and works in Warsaw and Silesia.
Anna Orłowska, Elena in Johanna’s Wedding Dress, 2022, Inkjet print on archival paper, mounted on dibond, wooden frame, museum glass, 120 x 100 cm
Anna Orłowska, Elena in Johanna’s Wedding Dress, 2022, Inkjet print on archival paper, mounted on dibond, wooden frame, museum glass, 120 x 100 cm
Anna Orłowska, Veneer 3, 2020, inkjet print on archival paper, burl veneer on birch plywood frame, 80 x 100 cm, photo: PION Studio
Anna Orłowska, Veneer 3, 2020, inkjet print on archival paper, burl veneer on birch plywood frame, 80 x 100 cm, photo: PION Studio
Anna Orłowska, Flatlets, Gdansk City Gallery, 2020, exhibition view, photo: PION Studio
Anna Orłowska, Flatlets, Gdansk City Gallery, 2020, exhibition view, photo: PION Studio
Anna Orłowska, Flatlets, Gdansk City Gallery, 2020, exhibition view, photo: PION Studio
Anna Orłowska, Flatlets, Gdansk City Gallery, 2020, exhibition view, photo: PION Studio
Anna Orłowska, Part of the Part, Tanzmuseum des Deutschen Tanzarchiv Köln, Photoszene United 2021, exhibition view, photo: Anna Orłowska
Anna Orłowska, Part of the Part, Tanzmuseum des Deutschen Tanzarchiv Köln, Photoszene United 2021, exhibition view, photo: Anna Orłowska
Anna Orłowska, Part of the Part, Tanzmuseum des Deutschen Tanzarchiv Köln, Photoszene United 2021, exhibition view, photo: Anna Orłowska
Anna Orłowska, Part of the Part, Tanzmuseum des Deutschen Tanzarchiv Köln, Photoszene United 2021, exhibition view, photo: Anna Orłowska
Anna Orłowska, Part of the Part, Tanzmuseum des Deutschen Tanzarchiv Köln, Photoszene United 2021, exhibition view, photo: Anna Orłowska
Anna Orłowska, Part of the Part, Tanzmuseum des Deutschen Tanzarchiv Köln, Photoszene United 2021, exhibition view, photo: Anna Orłowska
Anna Orłowska, Part of the Part, Tanzmuseum des Deutschen Tanzarchiv Köln, Photoszene United 2021, exhibition view, photo: Anna Orłowska
Anna Orłowska, Part of the Part, Tanzmuseum des Deutschen Tanzarchiv Köln, Photoszene United 2021, exhibition view, photo: Anna Orłowska
Anna Orłowska, Sankt Anna, solo show at Gunia Nowik Gallery, 2022, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Sankt Anna, solo show at Gunia Nowik Gallery, 2022, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Sankt Anna, solo show at Gunia Nowik Gallery, 2022, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Sankt Anna, solo show at Gunia Nowik Gallery, 2022, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Sankt Anna, solo show at Gunia Nowik Gallery, 2022, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Sankt Anna, solo show at Gunia Nowik Gallery, 2022, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Fist, 2022, Gelatine silver print, mounted on dibond, ivory wooden frame, museum glass, cotton crochet, unique, 37 x 30 cm
Anna Orłowska, Fist, 2022, Gelatine silver print, mounted on dibond, ivory wooden frame, museum glass, cotton crochet, unique, 37 x 30 cm
Anna Orłowska, Thingplatz I, 2022, Gelatine silver print, mounted on dibond, black wooden frame, museum glass, unique, 61 x 49 cm
Anna Orłowska, Thingplatz I, 2022, Gelatine silver print, mounted on dibond, black wooden frame, museum glass, unique, 61 x 49 cm
Anna Orłowska, Otherworlds, solo show at BWA Wrocław Główny, Wrocław, 2023, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Otherworlds, solo show at BWA Wrocław Główny, Wrocław, 2023, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Otherworlds, solo show at BWA Wrocław Główny, Wrocław, 2023, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Otherworlds, solo show at BWA Wrocław Główny, Wrocław, 2023, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Otherworlds, solo show at BWA Wrocław Główny, Wrocław, 2023, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Otherworlds, solo show at BWA Wrocław Główny, Wrocław, 2023, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Otherworlds, 2023, Pniewski's Villa, Warsaw, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Otherworlds, 2023, Pniewski's Villa, Warsaw, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Otherworlds, 2023, Pniewski's Villa, Warsaw, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Otherworlds, 2023, Pniewski's Villa, Warsaw, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Otherworlds, 2023, Pniewski's Villa, Warsaw, exhibition view
Anna Orłowska, Otherworlds, 2023, Pniewski's Villa, Warsaw, exhibition view
Solo exhibitions:
2023
Otherworlds, Museum of the Earth, Warsaw, Poland
Otherworlds, BWA Wrocław, Poland
2022
Sankt Anna, Gunia Nowik Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2021
Part of the Part, Tanzmuseum des Deutschen Tanzarchiv Köln, Photoszene United 2021, Cologne, Germany
2020
Flatlets, Gdańsk City Gallery, Poland
2019
Futerał‚ Galeria Bałucka, Łódź; Miejsce przy miejscu, Wrocław, Poland
Pompier, Muck, Socrococo, Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, Poland
2018
Futerał, Wschód, Warsaw, Poland
Whitewashing, Galeria Szara and Silesian Museum, Katowice, Poland
2017
Like a sick eagle (with Mateusz Choróbski), Exile Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Things, Higashikawa Photography Festival, Higashikawa, Japan
Sunday Night Drama, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
Belonging(s) (with Peter Puklus), Platan Galeria, Budapest, Hungary
2016
The Loneliness of the Long Distance runner (with Mateusz Choróbski), MANIFESTA, Zürich, Switzerland
2015
Dog and a girl, Archeology of Photography Foundation, Warsaw, Poland
Leakage and other works, Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France
Case study – invisibility, Kraków Photomonth, Poland
Leakage and other works, Panopticon, Stockholm, Sweden
2014
Case study – invisibility, Josef Sudek Studio, Fotograf Festival, Prague, Czech Republic
The Loneliness of the Long Distance runner (with Mateusz Choróbski), BWA Katowice, Poland and Another Vacant Space, Berlin, Germany
Case study – invisibility, BWA Katowice; Asymetria, Warsaw, Poland
Sound of silence, Festival International de Mode et de Photographie, Hyères, France
2013
Sweet thing, PF Gallery, CK Zamek, Poznań, Poland
2012
Soaking in, Lookout Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
Leakage, Prexer, Fotofestiwal 2012, Łódź, Poland
Selected group exhibitions:
2024
Villa Polonez, The Polish Institute in Paris, France
Your Loss, Her Clique, Lisbon, Portugal
All These Tendernesses, Centrala Gallery, Poznań, Poland
2022
State of Emergency, Zitadelle Spandau, Zentrum für Aktuelle Kunst, Berlin, Germany
Art in Embassies - In Motion, Residence of the U.S.A. Ambassador, Warsaw, Poland
Kinds of Love, Gunia Nowik Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2019
Die Ähnlichkeit im Unterschied, Polnisches Institut Düsseldorf, Germany
2017
Place, Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw, Poland
High Blood Pressure, Koganei Art Spot, Tokyo, Japan
Self-organization, should the world break in II, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
2016
A stitch in time saves nine, Wschód, Warsaw, Poland
Phantom, BWA Katowice, Poland
2015
WORTH REMEMBERING! A Tribute to Jerzy Lewczynski, Asymetria, Warsaw, Poland
Crisis is only a beginning, TIFF Festival, BWA Wrocław, Poland
2014
Stendhal Syndrome, Zona Sztuki Aktualnej, Szczecin, Poland
PhotoGlobal 2007 – 2014, SVA Gramercy Gallery, New York, USA
Invisibility – case study, PhotoGlobal New Releases 2014, Gallery 109, New York, USA
The day before, ReGeneration 2, Landskrona Museum, Sweden
2013
Leakage, Festival International de Mode et de Photographie, Hyères, France
Amber road, FLUSS Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Tribute to Robakowski, lokal_30, Warsaw, Poland
The day before, ReGeneration 2, ROSPHOTO Museum, Saint-Petersburg, Russia; Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, USA; Fototeca del centro de las artes, Monterrey, Mexico; Rencontres Internationales de la Photo de Fès, Morocco; Galerie Azzedine Alaia, Paris, France; Caocjangdi PhotoSpring Festival, Beijing, China; Aperture Fondation, New York, USA; Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Salem, USA
The day before. In the matter of things, Month of Photography in Bratislava, Slovakia
The day before. Disconnected images, BWA Bydgoszcz, Poland
Fission, Forward Thinking Museum, New York, USA
2010
The day before. ReGeneration2, Miami Dade College, Miami, USA; Flash Forward Festival, Toronto, Canada; Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China; Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, South Africa, Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France, Musée d’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
The day before. Some visible and invisible things, Polnisches Institut Düsseldorf, Germany
Prizes:
The Overseas Photographer Higashikawa Awards 2017, Japan
Photo Global 2013, Hyères, France
Artist book:
Warm Mother Cold Mother, Bored Wolves, 2023
Futerał, ed. Krzysztof Pijarski, Anna Orłowska, Wschód Gallery, The Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź
Selected collections:
MuFo Museum of Photography, Cracow; Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw; ASOM Collection; The ING Polish Art Foundation
