PRIVATE NARRATIVES
book / negative / idea

Engram Gallery
(Katowice, Plac Sejmu Śląskiego 2)
curator: Katarzyna Łata
opening: September 26, 2025, 6:00 p.m.
the exhibition will run until January 25, 2026

The exhibition at the Engram Gallery touches on the theme of ideas arising from the combination of photography and books. It features twelve triptychs prepared by artists who are distant in their individual paths, in their unique PRIVATE NARRATIVES.

I asked all the authors for a book, a photographic negative, and a comment. The book was to be an important one, one that would remain in their individual memory. The negative was to be a fragment of the author’s work that was influenced by the publication. The text was to be a comment, sometimes a quote, intended to bring the viewer closer to the individually treated topic.

The venue for the exhibition is symbolic. The Engram Gallery is the first one visitors see when they enter the City of Gardens building. Located on the ground floor, it is a black space from which the Paper Photo Festival grows, like roots. From inspiration – a book, through a negative – the first trace of creative activity for photographers, a record of light, to an idea – a thought that the authors share with the audience. This idea/thought is their legend to the map of images they have created thanks to inspirations from outside the world of visual arts.

The last, third element of each triptych is both text and image. We read it thanks to light, like a negative. Only seemingly does it end and close the creative process. In fact, it immediately opens up the next, broader circle of associations.

Authors: Wojciech Beszterda, Małgorzata Bilicka, Sylwester Hawrył, Ryszard Karczmarski, Radek Kobierski, Anna Lorenc, Jerzy Łapiński, Zdzisław Mackiewicz, Piotr Muschalik, Katarzyna Navarra, Maciej Plewiński, Krzysztof Ślachciak.