Bożena Gałan became known to the people of Bolesławiec last year through an exhibition at the II General Secondary School. Together with her friend and photographer Mirek Putyra, they presented the result of a major photography project, “In the Afterimage of Dreams”.
At the mini-exhibition in Agora, Bożena Gałan presents two photographs in which she used Grażyna Hanaf’s book “Joachim” as a prop, as well as several portraits of women shown at the exhibition in the II General Secondary School.
The photographer reached for “Joachim” because she was fascinated by the contrast between a nineteenth-century lady absorbed in reading something thoroughly contemporary. In one photograph, the model Róża Urbanik reads intently in an elegant dress from another era, in an unusual setting. In the other, Alicja Kowal, immersed in her reading, spills sugar, missing the cup with her teaspoon. Perhaps she has just read one of the spicier stories found in “Joachim”.
The author has been a photographer at heart and by nature for as long as she can remember. “As far back as I can recall, I travelled in my imagination to different places and situations,” says Gałan. “Music, poetry and imagination dominated my heart. Photography has always been with me. Perhaps I did not necessarily create photographs using a camera. The world is a frame to me, and I created my compositions within it in my imagination,” the artist adds.
Bożena Gałan became seriously interested in photography two or three years ago. Friends persuaded her to do something specific with her talent. “I am an amateur, a lover of nature’s genius; perhaps that is why I most often capture in frames images of structures, spaces and colours interpenetrating one another,” the photographer says about her passion. “I want to turn ordinary places into extraordinary, unique places—mine. Sometimes I close my eyes to see better…” she adds.
The author of “In the Afterimage of Dreams” has met excellent, talented photographers along her way. She highlights her friendship with Mirek Putyra, Janusz Wilk, Grzegorz Sidorowicz and is grateful that she was able to learn so much from them.
“I draw on their experience and knowledge and marvel at their work,” she says of her colleagues.
Although she very much enjoys photographing architecture, at some point she became fascinated by portrait photography. She wants to create photographs infused with emotion and life. In her models she sees goddesses, aristocrats, mysterious femmes fatales, flighty girls and wild women, and she is exceptionally sensitive to them.
“I have had the pleasure of photographing many women and a few men,” the artist says about her work. “It is an intriguing occupation. I like the moment when the model’s stage fright and tension leave her most of all. I see a woman standing before me, aware of her charm and beauty. And I no longer have to say or instruct anything. I want everyone to unleash whatever they have best to show. My task is to preserve that freedom in the frame. My experience has taught me that people coming to a session for the first time can quickly settle in and open up wonderfully to the photographer. They only need to be gently guided in the right direction,” Gałan says about her work with models.
Bożena Galan has two exhibitions planned for March. First she will show photographs from a new project at the II General Secondary School; then, on 15 March, she will present a personal photography exhibition at the Klatka Gallery of the Lwówek Cultural Centre.
The book can be purchased at Agora bookshop (Rynek, Bolesławiec) and in online bookshops including zaczytani.pl, Papirus Bolesławiec, and Empik.
All information and reviews of the book “Joachim” can be found on Grażyna Hanaf’s website.
(information: Grażyna Hanaf)