Soft Spot

Soft Spot explores childhood, trauma, and healing in a Polish family. Told through photos, drawings, and texts, the bilingual book reflects personal pain and universal resilience, highlighting tenderness found in familiar, emotionally charged spaces.

Description of the project:
Centered largely around the room of my youngest sister, Zosia, the project captures a child’s world shaped by joy and fragility alike. The family’s history—marked by our father’s struggle with alcoholism and long periods of emotional absence from both parents—casts a shadow over the narrative, yet I try uncover tenderness and vitality within these familiar domestic spaces. There are no grown-ups in our family. The ones who grew up remained children. Soft Spot is my personal story, but it could also belong to many others.
Born in a small town in southern Poland, I am the eldest of four sisters. Zosia, the youngest, was born when I was sixteen. Her courage, imagination, and unapologetic self-expression became the seed of the project. The photographs in Soft Spot shift between documentation and carefully staged tableaux. Worn-out furniture, wall drawings, and used toys become vessels of emotional memory. Through Zosia’s room, I construct a metaphorical landscape of childhood—a space that is both sanctuary and site of tension. This setting functions not just as a literal home base, but as a stage for re-enactments, emotional processing, and, ultimately, healing.

As the project evolved, other family members gradually became involved. Initially hesitant, my parents and sisters began to appear in front of the camera. My mother, once a silent presence in the background of our lives, eventually agreed to be photographed. These small but brave acts of participation reflect a slow and subtle process of reconciliation that lies at the heart of the work. Over time, the project became a shared experience. Zosia remained its central figure, but my sisters Zuzia and Joanna also played key roles. Zuzia often stood behind the camera, acting as both inventive assistant and emotional anchor. Joanna, less visible in the images, was present through the most difficult and meaningful stages of my life. Our parents, too, deepened their involvement—not just by being physically present, but by offering quiet gestures of healing.

Through a practice that is layered, vulnerable, and emotionally articulate, I invite viewers into spaces where personal and collective wounds coexist. My work poses a quiet but powerful question: what does it mean to return to the places that once hurt us—and to discover, within them, the possibility of tenderness?

Relevant information for the book:
The book Soft Spot is currently in the early stages of development, designed by renowned Polish book designer Anna Nałęcka-Milach in collaboration with Jednostka Gallery in Warsaw, curator Katarzyna Sagatowska, and the independent publishing house Bored Wolves. We are very interested in collaborating with PHMuseum to co-publish this project.

In terms of visual and textual content, the book will include approximately 30 photographs from the Soft Spot project, which are attached to this submission. In addition, we plan to incorporate original drawings by the artist’s youngest sister, Zosia Kacperak—the main protagonist of the photographic series—as well as drawings made by Michalina Kacperak during the creative process.

The publication will also feature a poetic glossary of terms related to life in a dysfunctional family, developed by the artist in collaboration with a child psychologist and court expert. Furthermore, we would like to include a short handwritten story by Zosia, written at the age of eight.

We envision the book as a bilingual edition, combining English with the artist’s native language, Polish. This decision reflects both the deeply specific context of the project within Polish society and its broader, universal relevance.
michalinakacperak.com