© Jef Claes
ABOUT
Ligia Popławska is a Polish photographer and visual artist based in Antwerp, Belgium. Fascinated by natural phenomena and more-than-human ecologies, her art practice is based on speculative storytelling, exploring urgent ecological themes.
Ligia Popławska is a Polish photographer and visual artist based in Antwerp, Belgium. Fascinated by natural phenomena and more-than-human ecologies, her art practice is based on speculative storytelling, exploring urgent ecological themes.
After graduating from Art History at the University of Gdansk, she continued her education at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, having completed BFA and MFA in Photography with great distinction in 2020. In recent years she won several prestigious awards, including 1st Prize Decade of Change Series Award 2022 by 1854 British Journal of Photography, PhMuseum Days Award (2021) and Photography Prize funded by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (2020). She is a laureate of .tiff 2022 and member of FUTURES Photography nominated by FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerpen. In 2022 she was a recipient of an Emerging Talent Grant from the Flemish Government for continuing her artistic research. In 2023 she was nominated for Leica Oscar Barnack Award. Ligia exhibited at Bienal’23 Fotografia do Porto (Porto, solo), ENCONTROS DA IMAGEM (Braga, solo), FOMU (Antwerp), Valerie Traan Gallery (Antwerp), De Brakke Grond (Amsterdam), Helsinki Photo Festival, InCadaques Photo Festival, among others.
Ligia works as a freelance photographer in the field of portrait, fashion, product and interior photography, and as a cultural producer in the art sector. In 2021-2023 she was a guest professor teaching photography at the Jewellery Design, Gold and Silversmithing Department, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. She curated and wrote for a photography platform Intimate Structures. From September 2024 she is a researcher in the Art & Ecology research group at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, working on the project Whispers of the Primeval Forest (2024-2026).
CONTACT
+32 485 387 686
ligiapoplawska@gmail.com
@ligiapoplawska
BE1014.147.272
sign up to newsletter︎︎︎
AWARDS & HONORS
2024 PhotoVogue's Global Open Call ‘The Tree of Life: a Love Letter to Nature’ ― Shortlist
2023 Leica Oskar Barnack Award ― Nominee
2022 Emerging Talent Grant, Flemish Government ― Grantee
2022 Decade of Change Series Award 2022, 1854 British Journal of Photography ― 1st Prize Winner
2022 Helsinki Photo Festival Open Call ― Winner
2022 PhMuseum Days 2022 ― Jury Member
2022 FUTURES Photography Talent, nominated by FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerpen ― Member
2022 Selection .tiff 2022, FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerpen ― Finalist
2021 PhMuseum Days 2021 Open Call Award ― 1st Prize Winner
2020 New Talents, Photographic Exploration Project ― Finalist
2020 Photography Prize, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp ― Winner
EXHIBITIONS
Solo
2023 Essay for the Future, Fading Senses ― Encontros da Imagem, Museu Nogueira da Silva, Braga, Portugal
2023 Acts of Empathy, Fading Senses, Sensitive Territories ― Bienal’23 Fotografia do Porto, Salut au Monde!, Porto, Portugal
2021 A New Beginning, Fading Senses ― PhMuseum Days 2021 International Photography Festival, Bologna, Italy
2020 Fading Senses ― To Be Antwerp Festival, St. Vincents, Antwerp, Belgium
2020 Fading Senses ― To Be Antwerp Festival, Marcel Nies Oriental Art Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Duo
2024 RUSTLING EARTH ― Ligia Popławska & Babs Decruyenaere, Valerie Traan Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Group
2022 Decade of Change ― InCadaqués Photo Festival, 1854 British Journal of Photography
2022 .tiff 2022 Emerging Belgian Photography ― Flemish Cultural Center De Brakke Grond Amsterdam
2022 Believe ― Helsinki Photo Festival, The National Museum of Finland
2022 Decade of Change ― Belfast Photo Festival, 1854 British Journal of Photography
2022 .tiff 2022 Emerging Belgian Photography ― FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerpen
2021 Connected ― De Tempel, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp
2021 Rethinking nature slide projection ― Foto Wien, European Month of Photography, Vienna
2021 Rethinking nature slide projection ― Imago Lisboa, European Month of Photography, Lisbon
2021 NEXUS, XLVI Space ― Photo Open Up Photo Festival, Padua
2021 Rethinking nature slide projection ― Casino Luxemburg, European Month of Photography
2020 New Talents 2020 ― PEP Photographic Exploration Project, B-Part Gallery, Berlin
2020 Blume! Masters Expo 2020 ― hosted by FOMU, Antwerp
2020 Masters Expo 2020 ― Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp
2020 The Billboard Project: De Quarantaine Editie ― Antwerp
2020 Solo Show (MA) ― Oude Beurs, Antwerp
2018 Missing Mathilde: On the Representation of Women in Public Space ― Antwerp
LECTURES & TEACHING
2023 ‘Visual Storytelling Beyond Anthropocene: Geert Goiris and ‘World Without Us’’, 3BA and MA, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium
2021 - 2023 Photography course (1BA - MA) at the Department Jewellery Design & Gold- and silversmithing, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp
2022 British Journal of Photography 1854, New Narratives. Decade of Change: Documenting the Climate Crisis hosted by Zoe Harrison, online
2021 ‘What happens if we lose our senses? Ligia Popławska talks about Solastalgia’, PhMuseum Days 2021, Bologna, Italy
2020 ‘Visual Storytelling Beyond Anthropocene: Geert Goiris and ‘World Without Us’’, 3BA, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium
PUBLICATIONS & PRESS
Print
2024 KERB Journal of Landscape Architecture, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
2023 VOSTOK, article on “Fading Senses”, Seoul, South Korea
2023 Usbek & Rica, article on “Fading Senses”, Paris, France
2022 Futures Annual Publication, FUTURES Photography, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
2022 .tiff 2022 magazine, FOMU FotoMuseum Antwerp, Belgium
2020 New Talents 2020, Photographic Exploration Project, Berlin, Germany
Online
2024 Safelight Paper ― In conversation with Ligia Popławska
2023 Fisheye Magazine ― La sélection Instagram #425 : esthétique automnale
2022 Velvet Eyes ― Fading Senses by Ligia Popławska (interview)
2022 De Brakke Grond Amsterdam ― Experts Talking: Kaat Somers
2022 De Brakke Grond Amsterdam ― .TIFF 2022
2022 Sound of Life ― 10 Young Photographers To Keep An Eye On
2022 Belfast Photo Festival ― Decade of Change
2022 Helsinki Photo Festival ― Winners Open Call ‘Believe’
2022 1854 British Journal of Photography ― Decade of Change 2022: The Winners
2022 1854 British Journal of Photography ― Winners Decade of Change 2022 Photography Awards
2022 FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerpen ― .TIFF 2022 Emerging Belgian Photography
2022 PhMuseum ― Ligia Popławska On Exhibiting at the PhMuseum Days
2021 C 41 Magazine ― Ligia Popławska explains solastalgia and sensory deprivation
2021 1854 British Journal of Photography ― Identities, realities, and space: XLVI launches a graduate exhibition
2021 PhMuseum Days ― Fading Senses
2021 PhMuseum ― Fabiola Cedillo, Ligia Poplawska and Samuel Fordham Will Exhibit at PhMuseum Days 2021
2021 PhMuseum ― PhMuseum Days 2021 Open Call Winners Announced
2021 Decalogue Magazine ― Ligia Popławska
2020 PhMuseum ― Picks 2020: PhMuseum Editors’ Top Projects of 2020, PhMuseum
2020 Desired Spaces ― Future Scenarios for an (Un-)Build Environment: Spaces of Seclusion and Collectiveness, Desired Spaces
+32 485 387 686
ligiapoplawska@gmail.com
@ligiapoplawska
BE1014.147.272
sign up to newsletter︎︎︎
AWARDS & HONORS
2024 PhotoVogue's Global Open Call ‘The Tree of Life: a Love Letter to Nature’ ― Shortlist
2023 Leica Oskar Barnack Award ― Nominee
2022 Emerging Talent Grant, Flemish Government ― Grantee
2022 Decade of Change Series Award 2022, 1854 British Journal of Photography ― 1st Prize Winner
2022 Helsinki Photo Festival Open Call ― Winner
2022 PhMuseum Days 2022 ― Jury Member
2022 FUTURES Photography Talent, nominated by FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerpen ― Member
2022 Selection .tiff 2022, FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerpen ― Finalist
2021 PhMuseum Days 2021 Open Call Award ― 1st Prize Winner
2020 New Talents, Photographic Exploration Project ― Finalist
2020 Photography Prize, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp ― Winner
EXHIBITIONS
Solo
2023 Essay for the Future, Fading Senses ― Encontros da Imagem, Museu Nogueira da Silva, Braga, Portugal
2023 Acts of Empathy, Fading Senses, Sensitive Territories ― Bienal’23 Fotografia do Porto, Salut au Monde!, Porto, Portugal
2021 A New Beginning, Fading Senses ― PhMuseum Days 2021 International Photography Festival, Bologna, Italy
2020 Fading Senses ― To Be Antwerp Festival, St. Vincents, Antwerp, Belgium
2020 Fading Senses ― To Be Antwerp Festival, Marcel Nies Oriental Art Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Duo
2024 RUSTLING EARTH ― Ligia Popławska & Babs Decruyenaere, Valerie Traan Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Group
2022 Decade of Change ― InCadaqués Photo Festival, 1854 British Journal of Photography
2022 .tiff 2022 Emerging Belgian Photography ― Flemish Cultural Center De Brakke Grond Amsterdam
2022 Believe ― Helsinki Photo Festival, The National Museum of Finland
2022 Decade of Change ― Belfast Photo Festival, 1854 British Journal of Photography
2022 .tiff 2022 Emerging Belgian Photography ― FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerpen
2021 Connected ― De Tempel, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp
2021 Rethinking nature slide projection ― Foto Wien, European Month of Photography, Vienna
2021 Rethinking nature slide projection ― Imago Lisboa, European Month of Photography, Lisbon
2021 NEXUS, XLVI Space ― Photo Open Up Photo Festival, Padua
2021 Rethinking nature slide projection ― Casino Luxemburg, European Month of Photography
2020 New Talents 2020 ― PEP Photographic Exploration Project, B-Part Gallery, Berlin
2020 Blume! Masters Expo 2020 ― hosted by FOMU, Antwerp
2020 Masters Expo 2020 ― Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp
2020 The Billboard Project: De Quarantaine Editie ― Antwerp
2020 Solo Show (MA) ― Oude Beurs, Antwerp
2018 Missing Mathilde: On the Representation of Women in Public Space ― Antwerp
LECTURES & TEACHING
2023 ‘Visual Storytelling Beyond Anthropocene: Geert Goiris and ‘World Without Us’’, 3BA and MA, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium
2021 - 2023 Photography course (1BA - MA) at the Department Jewellery Design & Gold- and silversmithing, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp
2022 British Journal of Photography 1854, New Narratives. Decade of Change: Documenting the Climate Crisis hosted by Zoe Harrison, online
2021 ‘What happens if we lose our senses? Ligia Popławska talks about Solastalgia’, PhMuseum Days 2021, Bologna, Italy
2020 ‘Visual Storytelling Beyond Anthropocene: Geert Goiris and ‘World Without Us’’, 3BA, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium
PUBLICATIONS & PRESS
2024 KERB Journal of Landscape Architecture, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
2023 VOSTOK, article on “Fading Senses”, Seoul, South Korea
2023 Usbek & Rica, article on “Fading Senses”, Paris, France
2022 Futures Annual Publication, FUTURES Photography, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
2022 .tiff 2022 magazine, FOMU FotoMuseum Antwerp, Belgium
2020 New Talents 2020, Photographic Exploration Project, Berlin, Germany
Online
2024 Safelight Paper ― In conversation with Ligia Popławska
2023 Fisheye Magazine ― La sélection Instagram #425 : esthétique automnale
2022 Velvet Eyes ― Fading Senses by Ligia Popławska (interview)
2022 De Brakke Grond Amsterdam ― Experts Talking: Kaat Somers
2022 De Brakke Grond Amsterdam ― .TIFF 2022
2022 Sound of Life ― 10 Young Photographers To Keep An Eye On
2022 Belfast Photo Festival ― Decade of Change
2022 Helsinki Photo Festival ― Winners Open Call ‘Believe’
2022 1854 British Journal of Photography ― Decade of Change 2022: The Winners
2022 1854 British Journal of Photography ― Winners Decade of Change 2022 Photography Awards
2022 FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerpen ― .TIFF 2022 Emerging Belgian Photography
2022 PhMuseum ― Ligia Popławska On Exhibiting at the PhMuseum Days
2021 C 41 Magazine ― Ligia Popławska explains solastalgia and sensory deprivation
2021 1854 British Journal of Photography ― Identities, realities, and space: XLVI launches a graduate exhibition
2021 PhMuseum Days ― Fading Senses
2021 PhMuseum ― Fabiola Cedillo, Ligia Poplawska and Samuel Fordham Will Exhibit at PhMuseum Days 2021
2021 PhMuseum ― PhMuseum Days 2021 Open Call Winners Announced
2021 Decalogue Magazine ― Ligia Popławska
2020 PhMuseum ― Picks 2020: PhMuseum Editors’ Top Projects of 2020, PhMuseum
2020 Desired Spaces ― Future Scenarios for an (Un-)Build Environment: Spaces of Seclusion and Collectiveness, Desired Spaces
FEATURES
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Design Anthology UK
Desired Spaces
De Standaard
De Witte Raaf
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HART
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I-D Vice
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Milk Decoration
Openhouse Magazine
PhMuseum
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Superfuture
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VOGUE Italia
VOGUE Polska
1 Granary
1854 British Journal of Photography
AN Magazine
AD Architectural Digest
Art Viewer
C 41 Magazine
Current Obsession
DAMN Magazine
Decalogue Magazine
Design Anthology UK
Desired Spaces
De Standaard
De Witte Raaf
Fisheye Magazine
HART
HYPEBEAST
I-D Vice
Ideat China
Leibal
Milk Decoration
Openhouse Magazine
PhMuseum
RUM
Superfuture
The Design Edit
VOGUE Italia
VOGUE Polska
SELECTED CLIENTS
Acrai
Aeduire
Bertrand Lejoly
fivetimesone
Gent University
Graanmarkt 13
Libraryman
Orient Express
Paf Atelier
St. Vincents
Somekind Studio
Valerie Objects
Valerie Traan Gallery
Woche
Z33
Acrai
Aeduire
Bertrand Lejoly
fivetimesone
Gent University
Graanmarkt 13
Libraryman
Orient Express
Paf Atelier
St. Vincents
Somekind Studio
Valerie Objects
Valerie Traan Gallery
Woche
Z33