The staged black-and-white photographs by the artist Joanna Piotrowska often show people in their private surroundings and in intimate poses that appear ambivalent and enigmatic. The works possess a dream-like atmosphere, leaving the viewer feeling moved and with a confusing, sometimes eerie sensation. Inspired by contemporary dance, Joanna Piotrowska choreographs these scenes and in doing so allows the human body to speak. From a psychoanalytical perspective, she is interested in the domestic, the familial and the position of women within society. This allows the political dimension and the structural environment in which the depicted protagonists are embedded to speak from the photographs as well.
At Ruhr Ding: Schlaf, Joanna Piotrowska is showing photographs or elements of photographed images of various sizes in the shop window display cases of the former Galeria Kaufhof on Bahnhofstrasse. The choice of location reflects the relationship between the private and the public. In opposite to the usual promises made by the world of fashion and commodities the bodies in the shop windows of the former department store open up a surrealistic perspective of the world.
The artist studied in Krakow and at the Royal College of Art in London. Most recently she had solo exhibitions at the Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover (2022) and the Museumsinsel Hombroich (2020). Her work was exhibited at the 59th Venice Biennale and the 16th Biennale of Contemporary Art in Lyon (both in 2022).
Joanna Piotrowska (*1985 in Warsaw) lives in London.