The artists nominated by
Mykhaylo Palinchak has dedicated himself to documenting the daily lives of the Ukrainian people since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In his two photo series’ Sirens’ whisper and Highlight, Mykhaylo documents places of Russian war crimes all over Ukraine, destroyed civilian objects and houses, but also the extraordinary courage and solidarity of Ukrainian society. Both series demonstrate this documentary photographer’s unique style, extraordinary sensitivity to detail and excellent editing skills.
Maria Gutu drew our attention with the classical form of her photography. Maria photographs young people, often at the moment of transition from childhood to adolescence. Each of the gazes Gutu photographs is authentic, not only because she approaches her characters with great visual sensitivity, but also because she looks at them with understanding.
Childhood is also one of the key subjects of Michalina Kacperak's project. Soft Spot is the artist's personal story about her own family experience of alcoholism. Michalina is the eldest of four sisters – the offspring of an alcoholic father who is currently on the path to sobriety. “Among us, only Zosia clings to her childhood,” Kacperak says, and as a result, it was Zosia who became the inspiration for the project.
In nominating Grzegorz Wełnicki for FUTURES Talent, we wanted, above all, to recognise his consistent, long-term work on his project No'am. Since the beginning of his creative path, Wełnicki has been interested in themes of transience, corporeality and spirituality. In the project No’am he approached the theme of transhumanism in a multithreaded story about death.
Karolina Gembara is a photographer, researcher and activist who uses photography both as a tool and a pretext for collaboration, often involving people with a migratory experience. Gembara uniquely manages to combine extraordinary empathy and sensitivity with an excellent academic background and this makes her one of the most interesting artists in the Polish visual arts landscape.
Mykhaylo Palinchak has dedicated himself to documenting the daily lives of the Ukrainian people since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In his two photo series’ Sirens’ whisper and Highlight, Mykhaylo documents places of Russian war crimes all over Ukraine, destroyed civilian objects and houses, but also the extraordinary courage and solidarity of Ukrainian society. Both series demonstrate this documentary photographer’s unique style, extraordinary sensitivity to detail and excellent editing skills.
Maria Gutu drew our attention with the classical form of her photography. Maria photographs young people, often at the moment of transition from childhood to adolescence. Each of the gazes Gutu photographs is authentic, not only because she approaches her characters with great visual sensitivity, but also because she looks at them with understanding.
Childhood is also one of the key subjects of Michalina Kacperak's project. Soft Spot is the artist's personal story about her own family experience of alcoholism. Michalina is the eldest of four sisters – the offspring of an alcoholic father who is currently on the path to sobriety. “Among us, only Zosia clings to her childhood,” Kacperak says, and as a result, it was Zosia who became the inspiration for the project.
In nominating Grzegorz Wełnicki for FUTURES Talent, we wanted, above all, to recognise his consistent, long-term work on his project No'am. Since the beginning of his creative path, Wełnicki has been interested in themes of transience, corporeality and spirituality. In the project No’am he approached the theme of transhumanism in a multithreaded story about death.
Karolina Gembara is a photographer, researcher and activist who uses photography both as a tool and a pretext for collaboration, often involving people with a migratory experience. Gembara uniquely manages to combine extraordinary empathy and sensitivity with an excellent academic background and this makes her one of the most interesting artists in the Polish visual arts landscape.
Grzegorz Wełnicki (b.1986) photographer and visual artist. Human in an existential context is the main subject of his works and activities. Master degree with distinction in Photography, Leon Schiller National Film School in Lodz, Poland. His works were exhibited in: Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland, 2021; Labirynt Gallery, 2021, Warsaw, Poland (PL), Verzasca Foto Festival, 2020, Switzerland, Fondo Internazionale per la Fotografia Festival, 2015, Italy and published in: British Journal of Photography, Frieze Magazine, Life Framer, Magazyn Szum, DOC! Photo Magazine, GUP Magazine, Internazionale Magazine, Gazeta Wyborcza, Vogue Polska.
Michalina Kacperak is a photographer and visual artist based in Warsaw, Poland. Her practice engages both documentary and artistic or scenographic experiments. She holds a master’s degree in philosophy. She’s a student at Film School in Lodz in the field of photography. The most important part of her work is devoted to personal, complex stories which bring up the themes related to childhood, memory, social exclusion and identity in the broad sense.
In 2023, she debuted her solo exhibition with the project "Soft Spot" at the Biennale of Photography - NEXT 2023 in Riga. Laureate of the 12th edition of Circulation(s) festival in Paris (2022). Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at venues such as: Bialystok Interphoto Festival (2021), the Fringe section of the Photomonth in Krakow (2022), Frames of Sopot Festival (2022) and Titanikas Exhibition Halls in Vilnius (2022). Her project “Soft Spot” has been published in OVER Journal issue #3 (2022) and awarded first prize in the Bartur PhotoAward in the Ann Lesley Bar-Tur Student category (2022).
Ukrainian street and documentary photographer currently residing and working in Kyiv, Ukraine. Master degree in International Economics of the Institute of International Relations of Kyiv National University. He has pursued photography since 2008. Since 2012 member of the Ukrainian Photographic Alternative (UPHA) and since 2014 of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers (UAPP). In 2014 - 2019, he was the official photographer of the President of Ukraine. Founder of ‘Untitled' online magazine and co-founder of Ukrainian Street Photography group. Member of PEN Ukraine since 2022. Author of the photo book “Anamnesis” (2020) and art-book “Maidan Faces” (2020). Since the beginning of full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine concentrated mostly on documenting war crimes and impact of war on civilians.
Karolina Gembara is a photographer and researcher whose work revolves around themes such as home, belonging, migration, and practices of care. Much of her recent activity has been devoted to politics and activism. She uses photography and video as tools and pretexts for collaboration, fostering creative processes.
In 2013, she published her debut book "Fitting Rooms," which examines the role of women in her generation. Between 2009 and 2016, Karolina was based in India, where she produced her second book "When We Lie Down, Grasses Grow From Us," exploring the migratory experience (published by GOST Books in 2019). She is an editor of several Strike Newspapers published by the Archive of Public Protest.
In recent years, she has initiated and completed several participatory projects involving refugees, creating spaces for collaboration and self-expression.
Karolina is currently working on her Ph.D. dissertation (K. Kieślowski Film School), which centers around the subjective narratives of historical migrations. She is a member of Sputnik Photos and the A-P-P
Maria Guțu was born in 1996 in Moldova, Republic of. In 2022 she finished her studies at Docdocdoc School of Modern Photography, Saint Petersburg. In 2020 she finished her studies at, Academy of Music, Theatre, and Fine Arts in Chisinau she studied cinematography for 4 years. In 2018 she became one of 30 women photographers under 30 years by Artpil. In 2019 she received a CDFD(Centre of Documentary Photography) grant, Bucharest, Romania. In 2020 she became a finalist of 2020 People Photography Award by The Independent Photographer. From 2021 Maria is a member of WomenPhotograph.
In 2022 she was shortlisted at Sony World Photography Awards, Open Competition: Portraiture. In 2023 she was shortlisted at Sony National & Regional Awards. She had collective exhibitions in: Romania, France and The United States. Maria is interested in documentary photography, remote places, youth, notion of home and the relation between humans and environment.
