Joanna Piotrowska, former Royal College of Art Genesis Scholar, has solo show at Tate Britain
20 March 2019
Photographer Joanna Piotrowska, 2011 recipient of the Genesis Scholarship at the Royal College of Art (RCA), is currently showing recent work in a solo show, All Our False Devices. The show runs until 9 June 2019 at Tate Britain and is a part of Art Now, a series of free exhibitions at Tate Britain focusing on work by emerging artists.
The Genesis Scholarship at the RCA was awarded to MA photography and painting students to cover their fees during their two-year MA programme of study. After being awarded the 2011 scholarship, Joanna, a 2009 graduate from the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, Poland, commented: “This scholarship will give me the opportunity to focus on my project wholly and will help me take my practice to the next level and mature as an independent artist.”
Joanna’s works relate to self-protection, psychophysical relationships and the power dynamics underlying how we relate to each other. All Our False Devices is an installation of black and white photographs and 16mm films, depicting people in major world cities within makeshift shelters in their homes and gardens, subverting childhood play. Other works in the show see her subjects enacting gestures and movements from self-defence manuals, implying violence against women as well as their empowerment.
Since graduating from the RCA, Joanna’s work has been exhibited in Being: New Photography 2018 at MoMA and 10th Biennale Berlin, 2018. Forthcoming projects include a solo show at Kunsthalle Basel in the autumn 2019.
