Ligia Popławska (b. 1994, Poland) is a visual artist currently based in Antwerp, Belgium. She graduated with MFA in Photography from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (2020) and BA in Art History from the University of Gdańsk (2016). Her work focuses on the topics of environmental change and sensory ecology. She researches the parallels between senses, memory and emotional states, in the changing conditions of the (Post) Anthropocene.

Her work has been selected for international awards, festivals, exhibitions and photography platforms such as .TIFF 2022 (FOMU), Futures Photography, PhMuseum Days 2021, Helsinki Photo Festival, Belfast Photo Festival, InCadaqués International Photo Festival, among others. She is a receipent of Photography Prize funded by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (2020). Her project ‘Fading Senses’ has been awarded 1st prize Decade of Change Series Award 2022, a global photography award and collaborative exhibition by 1854 British Journal of Photography, dedicated to documenting the defining matter of our time: the climate crisis.

Ligia works as a freelance photographer in the field of product, interior, architecture, fashion and portrait photography, as well as a photo editor and academic teacher. In 2021-2022 she has been co-creating platform Intimate Structures. 

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Prints available 
St. Vincents
Antwerp

2022    1st Prize Winner of Decade of Change Series Award 2022, 1854 British Journal of Photography (exhibitions at Belfast Photo Festival and InCadaques International Photo Festival)
2022    Selected for Helsinki Photo Festival
2022    Futures Photography, FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerpen/Creative Europe, Finalist
2022    Laureate of .TIFF program - Emerging Belgian Photography, FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerpen
2021    1st Prize Winner PhMuseum Days 2021, PhMuseum
2020    Recipient of Prijs Fotografie, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp

Decade of Change
1854 British Journal of Photography
Belfast Photo Festival
City Quays Gallery
Belfast, Northern Ireland
2 June ―  4 September 2022

.tiff Emerging Belgian Photography
FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerp
Antwerp, Belgium
24 June ― 28 August 2022

Believe
Kansallismuseo, The National Museum of Finland
Helsinki Photo Festival
Helsinki, Finland
7 July ― 2 October 2022

.tiff Emerging Belgian Photography
De Brakke Grond
during UNSEEN
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
17 September ― 2 October 2022

Decade of Change
InCadaqués International Photo Festival
Cadaqués, Catalonia, Spain
29 September ― 9 October 2022

Solo

2021: ‘Fading Senses’ ― PhMuseum Days 2021, Dumbo, Bologna, IT
2020: ‘Fading Senses’ ― St. Vincents/To Be Antwerp, Antwerp, BE
2020: ‘Fading Senses’ ― Marcel Nies Gallery/To Be Antwerp, Antwerp, BE

Group

2021: ‘Rethinking Nature’ ― Foto Wien/European Month of Photography, Vienna, AUT
2021: ‘CONNECTED’ ― Current Obsession, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, BE
2021: ‘Rethinking Nature’ ― Imago Lisboa/European Month of Photography, Lisbon, PT
2021: ‘NEXUS’ ― XLVI Space, Photo Open Up, Padua, IT
2021: ‘Rethinking Nature’ ― Casino Luxemberg, European Month of Photography, LUX
2020: New Talents 2020 ― Photographic Exploration Project, B-Part Gallery, Berlin, DE
2020: Blume! ― Masters Expo 2020, FOMU, Antwerp, BE
2020: Masters Expo, De Lange Zaal, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, BE
2020: The Billboard Project: De Quarantaine Editie ― Antwerp, BE
2020: Solo Show ― Oude Beurs, Antwerp, BE
2019: End Season ― 3BA Graduation Show, Antwerp, BE
2018: Missing Mathilde: On the Representation of Women in Public Space ― Antwerp, BE
2018: Reverberate ― Wintertuin, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, BE

Photography course (1BA―MA) at the Department Jewellery Design & Gold- and silversmithing, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (2021―2022)

September 2021: ‘What happens if we lose our senses? Ligia Popławska talks about Solastalgia’ ― PhMuseum Days 2021, Bologna (2021)
November 2020: ‘Visual Storytelling Beyond Anthropocene: Geert Goiris and ‘World Without Us’’ ― Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (2020)

Press

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: .TIFF Emerging Belgian Photography ― FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerpen
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: New Talents 2020 ― Photographic Exploration Project, B-Part Gallery Berlin/Print
2020: Subbacultcha ― He(art) IV/Print
2020: Desired Spaces ― Future Scenarios for an (Un-)Build Environment: Spaces of Seclusion and Collectiveness, Desired Spaces︎︎︎

Publications / Features

1 Granary︎︎︎, 1854 BJP︎︎︎, AD Architectural Digest, Art Viewer, C 41 Magazine︎︎︎ , Collater︎︎︎, Current Obsession︎︎︎, DAMN Magazine, Decalogue Magazine︎︎︎, Desired Spaces︎︎︎, De Standaard, De Witte Raaf, Frizzi Frizzi︎︎︎, HART, HYPEBEAST, I-D Vice︎︎︎, Ideat China, PhMuseum, PhMuseum Days︎︎︎, Photographic Exploration Project︎︎︎, RUM, Subbacultcha︎︎︎, Superfuture, The Design Edit, To Be Antwerp︎︎︎, VOGUE Italia, Yellow Trace, Zero︎︎︎

Clients

Acrai, Aeduire, Base Alpha Gallery, Context, didu, fivetimesone, Gent University, Graanmarkt 13, Libraryman, Martha, Paf Atelier, Priss Niinikoski, St.Vincents, Somekind Studio, Valerie Traan Gallery, Vincent Thurstein, Woche