AfterLIFE

Afterlife presents us a collection of funeral parlours in Poland. Embedded in a context of mundane affairs, we see them next to residential buildings, grocery shops, dance studios, hairdressers and restaurants. If we allow it, Rogiński’s work will cause us pain. It reminds us that, sooner or later, we will enter the spaces in his photographs on our own. Only then it will be without the artist as mediator, elevating these places in the twilight to images of balanced composition, calming lines and hypnotic lighting.

Anja Franczak, In the End We Are Customers

AfterLIFE Artistbook – by Katarzyna Korzeniecka & Szymon Roginski

Edition of 10, selfpublsihed, signed and numbered 120 Pages, including 20 original ebru monotypes every book is unique – with different ebru monotypes on the cover and inside.

Graphic design & illustrations: Piotr Chuchla
Texts by Ania Franczak (sprawyostateczne.pl) and Katarzyna Wąs
Managing editor: Karolina Andrzejewska-Batko

Afterlife is visual dialogue between Szymon Rogiński’s photographs and the timeless structures of Katarzyna Korzeniecka’s works created using marbling (Ebru) technique.
The publication addresses one of the most difficult topics: life and death, the funeral branch, as well as the dignity of deceased persons and their mourning loved ones. Without judgement it shows the Polish reality and provokes reflection.
The funeral establishments depicted in the photographs are in places that are bustling with life, in-between grocers’ and wedding dress designers, surrounded by neon signs and omnipresent ads encouraging us to consume. In the empty scenery of nocturnal landscapes, Roginski freezes with the silent objectiveness of the camera the pieces of reality where life encounters the metaphysics of death. The brutal aesthetics, banners and promotions, all conceal the marketing approach of the funeral branch, where pursuit of worldly possessions definitively wins, while the priority for funeral establishments is to quickly dispose of the dead person’s body. The works of Katarzyna Korzeniecka, where she uses thousands years old marbling technique, imitate the materials traditionally used by grave-makers. Making gravestones for dead persons is a manifestation of the need to retain something material, becoming a symbol of victory over death. Ebru pictures, created by means of water and paints made of natural pigments put in motion, touch upon the metaphysical essence of life, its fragility, and its evanescence.

Artistbook available at www.kominekominekominek.shop/products/after-life-signed?_pos=2&_sid=bb299e1fb&_ss=r