Ewa Doroszenko, The Promise of Sublime Words

In contemporary times, dominated by virtuality, digital technologies and communication media influence our thinking and perception – they hide, describe or overwrite history, revealing previously unknown layers of the image. Classic beauty drifting in virtual space begins to live its own life, loses its quality, multiplies without limits, travels, and often finds new owners.

The project relates to the subject of using photographic material in digitalised reality.

I started this project during my PhD studies when I was preparing for my final exam in art history. During my research, I discovered many old books with famous sculptures from antiquity to classicism. To add variety to the long process of solidifying the acquired knowledge, I began to prepare photographs related to the topics discussed. I wanted to show my favourite sculptures as objects that evoke ambiguous associations. I attempted to distort the established view of sculptures and ultimately destabilise the natural sense of order. Experimenting with new technologies, I also tried to develop my artistic expression appropriate for the digital age: I photographed illustrations from textbooks, printed them, physically manipulated the prints, placed them in a tableau, photographed the scene, and then digitally manipulated the images.

Ewa Doroszenko is a Polish intermedia artist living in Warsaw. In 2012 she received a Doctor of Fine Arts degree at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Her artistic practice is characterised by unconventional digital manipulation combined with traditional media, including painting and photography. In her current works and artistic activities, she deals with contemporary issues, especially the meaning of the image in today's technological reality and the fluidity of standards of female beauty. The artist is also involved in projects exploring sound phenomena.

Ewa Doroszenko was the winner of multiple international competitions, including Fait Gallery’s Preview in Brno (2016), doc! photo magazine’s Debuts (2018), the Lithuanian Photographers Association DEBUT (2018); and was a finalist of the Noorderlicht International Photo Festival (2021), Kranj Foto Fest (2021), FIF – International Festival of Photography of Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2020), Athens Digital Arts Festival (2020), Generate! Festival for Electronic Arts (2019), Der Greif and the World Photo Organisation Open Call (2018), and FILE Electronic Language International Festival in São Paulo (2015).

Doroszenko was also the recipient of a 2019 scholarship from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland and the recipient of several international residency programmes, including Re_Act Contemporary Art Laboratory (Azores, PT), Atelierhaus Salzamt (Linz, AT), The Island – Resignified (Lefkada, GR), Kunstnarhuset Messen (Ålvik, NO), Petrohradská kolektiv (Prague, CZ), Klaipeda Culture Communication Center (LT) and AAVC Hangar (Barcelona, ES).

Her works have been shown widely in solo and group exhibitions, among others, at the Center of Contemporary Art in Toruń, Vilnius Photography Gallery, MAH - Museum of Angra do Heroismo, Propaganda Gallery in Warsaw, Fait Gallery in Brno, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Slupsk, Kasia Michalski Gallery in Warsaw, Exgirlfriend Gallery in Berlin, Wroclaw Contemporary Museum.