Virtual Exhibition – “Encountered Absence”: Photographs from Chernobyl
Jowita Niemczyk & Piotr Aleksander Grodzki
I warmly welcome you to this virtual exhibition, which presents photographs from Chernobyl (Ukraine) by Jowita Niemczyk, and sculptures by Piotr Aleksander Grodzki, created near the village of Sucha in Poland.
I travelled to the exclusion zone twice — in 2016 and 2017.
The reason behind these journeys was, above all, curiosity — a desire to experience and capture what was about to disappear forever.
From a photographer’s perspective, what immediately caught my attention was the incredible abundance of structures, textures, surfaces, and colors.
All these extraordinary details, combined with the surreal, apocalyptic vision of a world suddenly devoid of people, were deeply inspiring to me.
The emotions that accompanied me there were strange and ambiguous — both unsettling and haunting, yet at the same time urging me to discover a kind of beauty still worth photographing.
One cannot, however, forget what happened in Chernobyl — nor the victims who sacrificed their lives to eliminate the consequences of the explosion, often unknowingly agreeing to an early death.
What I found there was silence and emptiness — but not the kind of silence we usually seek.
It held no peace, no rest.
It was the silence after an unspeakable tragedy.
Empty school desks where children will never sit again.
Beds that no longer bring relief — in a moment, rendered useless.
Radiation turned them into coffins.
The deserted streets of Pripyat, once filled with life, became less hospitable than the harshest desert.
Today we exist — tomorrow, only emptiness may remain.
What will we leave behind?
Only objects, dissolving in the vastness of time?
Or perhaps the memory of good — cherished by those who come after us?
Piotr Aleksander Grodzki
Piotr Aleksander Grodzki joins Jowita Niemczyk’s photography with a series of his sculptures.
The works were created in an art studio near the village of Sucha, a space kindly offered by his friend Waldemar Malak.
There stands an old barn — still filled with ordinary traces of human life.
Through the cracks between the wooden boards, light dances, pretending to be the spirits of former inhabitants.
How to show them? How to keep them from fading?
One must quickly gather what remains — old planks, chopped branches, worn-out chairs — and piece them together, hoping that what emerges will become a visible trace of those who are ABSENT, and yet somehow PRESENT.
This is how the presented sculptures came to be — and, almost by chance, they draw near, tangentially and tenderly, to the photographs displayed here.
I would like to add that this exhibition has been presented in several cities across Poland, where it received great interest and a warm welcome. Each place brought something unique — a new atmosphere, new energy, and new audiences who could pause for a moment and reflect upon the stories captured in the works.
We are open to the world and warmly invite collaboration, future exhibitions, and shared moments of art, emotion, and contemplation.
You are most welcome to join us!
Contact with us: +48 501 588 692, vision@post.pl
