Paweł ŻAK (ur. 1965)

From A Close Acquaintance series

2004/2005
gelatin silver print, 26 × 33 cm (28.4 × 38.2 cm),
signed, dated and described on the reverse and on the front of the mount
edition: 7/7 + 2 a.p.

Unlike the other topics explored by Żak, A Close Acquaintance is clearly a personal narrative. The series consists of double self-portraits telling a metaphorical story about encounters with oneself. The artist produced the photomontages by traditional methods, without resorting to any digital tools, but making use of the mirror image instead. As he explains, the two persons, the two behaviours, were separated from each other by a distance of just a few seconds. What I experienced was a blurred border between my real self here, and my reflected self there. The series is a visualisation of what happens inside you, a story about experiencing some kind of disapproval of yourself depending on the dimension."
The work has been widely exhibited in Poland and other countries.
Publications: PhotoSensitive. Photographic Collections in the National Museum in Warsaw (National Museum, 2009) Adam Mazur, Decisive Moment. New Phenomena in Polish Photography after 2000 (Karakter, 2012).
Another print of this photograph is owned by the National Museum in Warsaw.