The Wax of Poland

Antonina Konopelska has been working on the project 'The Wax of Poland' almost from the beggining of her artistic activity. 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 is an open project that is constantly evolving and consisting, now, of around 40 portraits. The works submitted were made in the years 2018 and 2019.

– Kaja Werbanowska, the curator of The Wax of Poland 3.1

(...) 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, 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". Although 'The Wax of Poland' achieves its character through digital processing, 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, the curator of The Wax of Poland 3.2