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.
           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 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.

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AWARDS & HONORS

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

CURRENT

Ligia Popławska & Babs Decruyenaere
RUSTLING EARTH
valerie_traan gallery Antwerp
09.03.24 - 13.04.24

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
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

FEATURES

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