Antonina Konopelska

The Wax of Poland

The Wax of Poland is a digital cabinet of figures immersed in a series of sterile portraits, which transitorily cease to be pure photography and become specimens of tomorrow. The specimen pupates and in its new form – the herd – surround the viewer who, surprised and astonished, asks: “Where are we heading?”, “What is the essence of the real human being?”, “When are they going to print us (in 3D)?”, “Can an objectified human have a soul?”. The exhibition, although bitterly cold, is full of emotions. They are here. More. As a form. An art, after all. – Zuzanna Żyzny- Żelezna Antonina Konopelska has been working on the project The Wax of Poland for several years now. Using the medium of photography and photo processing, she manipulates the image of the protagonist transforming them into transhumans. "The world of new technologies is my world. I use the tools that it offers. The access to what is created with them is the essence of the digital revolution (...) " – explained Antonina Konopelska in the interview for KMAG Magazine. The Wax of Poland is an open project that is constantly evolving and consisting, now, of around 40 portraits. (...) – Kaja Werbanowska (...) Photographing the people she sees as her wax "prey" is for the artist, above all, a meeting with an actual person. Although the lion's share of time is consumed by photo editing, which often takes several weeks or months, certain elements must be captured live. If they aren't, Antonina consistently returns to the model and waits with her camera until it is possible to put them into a state of mild "detachment". The Wax of Poland achieves its character through digital processing, but the most important thing is the artist’s meeting with the protagonist. (...) Hence it is, largely, a story about photography itself in the postphotographic era – full of internal tensions, which Antonina does not cover but, on the contrary, emphasizes. – Piotr Policht