This spring, the building of Concordia Design Wrocław, a popular meeting place for the inhabitants of Wrocław, will house a temporary, publicly accessible studio of the Wrocław-based artist Kasia Kmita. As part of a project organised by the Krupa Gallery, Kmita will work on a series of portraits of contemporary Wrocław inhabitants created in the traditional papercutting technique.
En face. En trois quart. En pied. Nuptial, collective or self-portraits, showing the model in diverse ways, under various circumstances and with different techniques, are among the oldest types of representational art and a rich source of information about our ancestors – how they lived over the centuries, what interested them and even what diseases plagued them.
Commissioning a famous artist to do a portrait used to be an indicator of status, a visible sign of belonging to a given social class and a means of ensuring immortality. We know famous depictions of rulers, scholars and members of the elite, but also more intimate portraits immortalising people from the artist’s environment – other artists, friends or family members.
In 2020, during the pandemic, Kasia Kmita started a project called Portrait Studio. It was based on the idea that anyone could send her their photo, which Kmita used to make a cut-out portrait and then published on a specially created profile on Instagram.
Today, when the pandemic restrictions are slowly being lifted, the artist can use more traditional methods of working live with a model. The lack of a virtual distance or barrier in the form of a screen glass allows her to get a better look at the model, understand their character and personality.
The project Portrait Studio 2022 will be carried out with the involvement of the residents of Wrocław.
In the Concordia Design Wrocław building on Słodowa Island, a public portrait studio will be arranged for a period of two months, during which Kasia Kmita will create visitors’ portraits. They will include both well-known figures who have rendered great services for the culture of Wrocław, as well as people who applied to participate in the project.
Kasia Kmita often portrays members of her environment: artists, curators, journalists, but also people she meets by chance. Like the old masters of painting, she focuses not only on showing the physical likeness of a given person, but also on capturing their character and the social context in which they function. Kmita presents her models with accompanying attributes, paying special attention to the details of their outfit or manner of being. What emerges as a result is not just the model’s portrait, but a depiction of the times in which they live, the customs and trends that they follow.
The works created as a result of the project Portrait Studio will make up a collective representation of today’s inhabitants of Wrocław, which will reflect the character of the city and its residents. We hope that it will provide our descendants with valuable information about life in Wrocław in the 2020s.
The project will be accompanied by educational activities: workshops for children and adults, curator-led tours and meetings with the artist.
HOW TO TAKE PART IN THE PROJECT
As part of the project, Kasia Kmita does portraits of inhabitants of Wrocław.
We would like to invite you to pose for the artist at her Portrait Studio in the Concordia Design Wrocław building (Wyspa Słodowa 7). The meeting over coffee will last 1–2 hours. During this time, the artist will prepare sketches, which she will later use to create a portrait using the paper cutting technique.
The number of places is limited. If you would like to participate in the project, please send an email to the following address:
The project is accompanied by educational activities: workshops for children and adults, curator-led tours and meetings with the artist.
The studio is open to the public on selected Fridays:
1 April, 8 April, 13 May, 20 May, 27 May, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
SCHEDULE
2 April 2022 (Saturday), 12–2 p.m. – paper cutting workshops for children / prior registration required
Venue: Concordia Design Wrocław, Wyspa Słodowa 7
8 May 2022 (Sunday), 12–2 p.m. – intergenerational workshop on portrait drawing / prior registration required
Venue: Concordia Design Wrocław, Wyspa Słodowa 7
14 May 2022 (Saturday), 7.00 p.m. – 9.00 p.m. – guided tours for the audience and meeting with the artist
Venue: Concordia Design Wrocław, Wyspa Słodowa 7
05.06.2022 (Sunday), godz. 4 – 6PM – studio visit and meeting with the artist
Venue: Concordia Design Wrocław, Wyspa Słodowa 7
KASIA KMITA
Kasia Kmita (b. 1972) studied at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław. In 1996 she received a diploma in painting.
In her practice Kmita primarily uses a meticulously refined form of traditional papercutting. Her works often contain insights about the latest trends, lifestyles and everyday life in the city, including relatively new urban traditions that have already taken root in our culture. She carefully observes changes in society, analyses the desires and mechanisms governing human behaviour. By combining elements of Polish folklore with pop culture symbols, Kasia Kmita’s work create a colourful portrait of contemporary times.
She lives and works in Wrocław.
CONCORDIA DESIGN
Concordia Design Wrocław is a centre of creativity and business. It is a business hub for young entrepreneurs with a programme of cultural events as well as a bar and a restaurant. It has a rich educational (meetings, discussions) and artistic offer (exhibitions and concerts). The events organised in Concordia are intended to encourage social participation of various groups of inhabitants.