Mia Dudek’s works from series “Skin Studies” ,“Inhabited“ and “Fruiting Bodies” are on view as part of Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie 2023.
„Particularly in the last decade of man-made climate change, cultural interest in more-than-human life and biological diversity has deepened. Even within Mia Dudek's most recent constellation of works, the fruiting bodies are of fundamental importance as dynamic and organic actors. They are able to overcome and break through barriers and limitations that structure the physical world. The photographs in the “Fruiting Bodies” series (2020-2021) are in the simple, sleek and promotional style of product photography. Oyster mushrooms are presented up close and alone against a neutral studio background as if they were the latest smartphone or sneaker. They are lush, strange and deeply present. The lamellae of the mushrooms portrayed show shades from white and brown to pink and fleshy tones. Additionally, in her series Inhabited (2020-2021) and Skin Studies (2010-2019), Polish artist Mia Dudek continually examines the relationship between the body and the structure of brutalist large-block architecture, while exploring concepts such as intimacy, repression and inhabitation. In "Skin studies” the veins in the skin evoke a feeling of fragility and allude to a translucent and physical surface that responds to touch. She confronts not only her photographic works, but also the viewer with works of a large concrete structure in which Dudek has recreated the texture of skin and which metamorphoses and embodies sensory consciousness into an unyielding, inanimate object..." - excerpt from press release.
April 28, 2023
