Stay Forever More: Inventive License With Photographer Patryk Gizicki

Patryk Gizicki’s photographic collection at Galway’s Outset Gallery explores themes of house, belonging and coming of age …

The title of your new exhibition Stay Forever More attracts on the Green and Red of Mayo, The Saw Doctors’ anthem devoted to the county the place you grew up. When did you progress to Castlebar?

I moved over from Poland once I was six, which was a shock to the system. I keep in mind crying to my dad and mom. I wasn’t even upset about being uprooted or dropping household – I don’t suppose I understood that half but. It was a concern of the unknown that affected me probably the most. My creativeness was operating away with me.

You’ve spoken about having conflicted emotions in the direction of your hometown, which has impressed your work …

Moving to Castlebar was a formative expertise. I bumped into some robust conditions. I used to be picked on for being totally different, however that wasn’t all the time all the way down to being overseas. Being an artist is sufficient to make you stand out. Castlebar is a spot of simplicity, however I find it irresistible. Overall, I had a very nice childhood there. I met a number of artistic mates who I nonetheless hang around with now.

I lately found the time period “third culture kids” by means of a photographer, Ying Ang, who moved from Asia to Australia. She thought that she was going to be a surfer child, however in actuality she skilled a number of racism. She by no means belonged fully to 1 tradition or the opposite. That blended identification makes you recognise the small variations. In rural Ireland, you make eye contact whereas passing a stranger and provides them the nod. When I did that in Poland, they checked out me like I used to be loopy!

Do you see your observe as a visible diary?

I didn’t hold a diary in childhood, so my images are a visible diary up to now tense. I’m rediscovering reminiscences by means of the hue of my present experiences. I usually {photograph} my brother who was 17 once I began this venture and he’s 20 now. I used to be an “emo” rising up and he’s in the same various group. That intimate dynamic offers me a lens to faucet again into these feelings. Having a way of belief with the folks I {photograph} has been nice. I exploit a point-and-shoot digital camera, so most of my photos are sluggish and meditative constructions.

How vital is collaboration to your artistic course of?

I’ve had some good experiences working with different artists and creatives. Those experiences educate you to take different folks’s concerns on board. For this present, I created a soundscape with Charlie McCarthy, a Galway bassist who performs in rock band Gurriers. We first met after we have been youngsters. I’m presently collaborating with Francis Lawrence, a poet buddy that I grew up with, who’s contributing notes from his diary throughout our teen years. His writing captures the uncooked feelings from that point, so it’s fascinating to look again from his perspective. There’s additionally a letter from my ex-girlfriend on this exhibition that has been part of the venture since October.

Can you inform us extra in regards to the gentle field frames designed for the exhibition?

I’ve liked the thought of sunshine packing containers since discovering the work of Canadian photographer Jeff Wall once I was youthful. I often work with synthetic lighting like tungsten or avenue lights, so gentle field prints actually immerse you within the glow of the scene and the gallery house.

I work as a printer at a frameworks firm who I’m collaborating with to determine a prototype for 2 gentle field prints. It’s enjoyable to be part of their improvement as they’ve nearly fully disappeared from the effective artwork scene. You often use a selected form of chemical, darkroom print for gentle packing containers, however that course of is now not obtainable in Ireland. You can solely get them made in London, so we’re attempting to deliver gentle packing containers again by means of digital inkjet prints on matte paper. The venture is already so aestheticised, so I wish to decrease the distinction a bit and add extra refined tactility.

Does using color in movie enable for extra emotional depth in your work?

All of my heroes, like American photographers Todd Hido and Alec Soth, shot on movie. I exploit a waist-level, medium-format digital camera, so I can look down into the viewfinder then look again on the sitter and maintain that eye contact. When I’m capable of have a face-to-face dialog, it creates a really totally different interplay. The different issue is the lack to self-censor. Everyone needs to see what they appear to be after {a photograph} is taken, however movie doesn’t present a preview. That delay creates a extra intimate, uncooked picture for a extra genuine view.

We’re dwelling in a fast-paced, digital tradition of immediacy, however there’s no dashing by means of the chemical technique of growing movie. The course of offers me a cause to take a seat with a picture for a very long time. 

Need to know: Stay Forever More, Outset Gallery in Galway till August 24 . @patrykgizicki

Adapted from an interview by Meadhbh McNutt.

SEE MORE: Gallery Owner And Curator Danielle Morgan-Smyth