The exhibition of art pieces, created during developmental workshops for women to help them work through difficult life experience by means of photography. 

The workshops, conducted by a psychotherapist Dr Helena Zakliczyńska and a photographer Anka Sielska, were divided into two parts: group and individual work. In the group sessions, the participants used their family albums and, with the therapist’s assistance, tried to retrieve memories that had built their identity. The photo collections acquired a new shape – purposefully created family albums – with a great care for form, and the intent of passing the memory to the next generations. During the individual workshops, the participants worked with the photographer on images presenting difficult, often traumatic events they had experienced. The resulting new photographs allowed them to see these moments from a different perspective, to help accept the past and benefit from the experience instead of negating it.

The assumption of this exhibition was presenting another form of therapy, enriched with the photo image, which helps deal with painful memories.

Workshops and organization of exhibition: Dr Helena Zakliczyńska, Anka Sielska
Exhibition curated by: Maga Sokalska

“Art of Photography – Art of Survival”
Opening: 24 Oct 2014, 6pm
Duration: 24 Oct – 14 Nov 2014
Academy of Fine Arts, Roundabout Gallery in Katowice
Rondo im. Gen. Jerzego Ziętka 1, Katowice

Partners: Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice and the Inklu photographic studio
Subsidized by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.