Dressed in light
22 June - 14 July 2024
SOKÓŁ Art Gallery
vernissage:
28 June 2024, hour 18:00
Exhibition of nude photography by Nowy Sącz-based photographer Sylwester Adamczyk.
Text | Justyna Machałowska
Light is already there. On the black stage.
I enter this space naked, but after a few seconds I feel I am being dressed in light. “Dressing” is the word that I would use to describe what I am experiencing.
It’s not only the visual side – I can see y skin becomes lighter, I can feel the touch of the light. I feel warm, as if someone Has put some clothes on me.
The light dresses and undresses me at the same time. It reaches the truth, the human being in me. It helps me enlighten the way to my self-discovery, to reveal my true nature. Even though it flows from an artificial source, I can feel a divine element in it, something people have always perceived in the light. As I lay on the dark stage, I feel the personal presence of the light, encouraging me to have a conversation. And so it happens.
I talk with the light. The dialogue is spontaneous and sincere.
I talk with the light, I dance and keep silent with it. I let it dress me up and comb my hair. I stand on my toes to touch its beams.
The photographer is a director of these scenes, whereas me and the light are actors. We do not play any imagined parts, but we present ourselves. He walks and talks to us, to me and to the light. He takes photographs. He captures the moments in which we are at our best.
What really matters is to be oneself, to help what is inside me to be revealed outside. A naked body dressed in light becomes transparent. A sincere, naked body dressed in light allows us to see what has been invisible – the soul.
The light dresses me up in it, by the photographer is also the Dresser. He cuts the light like a tailor, he drapes it. He does it tactfully because light is a precious material, it eludes the frame.
We sometimes forget about the person photographing us because we focus so intensely on ourselves. I watch the light wandering over my body, telling holistically and partially a story about me. Talking about me or about the space behind me so that only body silhouettes can be seen. When the light meets my eyes, it reflects in them and multiplies. It grows and grows. Sometimes it overflows through the dark stage, shines in the air so much that it seems like water, and I feel I swim in it. Then it recedes, the light becomes a drop trickling down my body, enlightening only some points as it goes. I look at the light as at water. Its stream is rapid or slow. I watch light waves lift my hair and breasts above the black depth, but the photographer can also see it and saves the moment in the photo frame.
When the performance ends, light disappears in the dressing room of the lamp. I am surrounded by darkness, the one that was before everything started. Light needs darkness. The contrast makes things clearly visible. This happens in my case. When, after a few days, I look at the already developed photos, I can see that they resemble stained glass. Darkness and light emerging from it. The light not only dresses me, but also permeates me. New quality is created, just as it is with the sun, which flows through a pane of glass in windows of gothic cathedrals. We can see more. Also what is inside. My emotions and feelings. I can feel that the light permeates them as well. Robert Grosseteste, a medieval philosopher and theologian, in his “De luce” work stated that light affects not only the matter, but also what is spiritual. When I look at those photographs, I feel that it also happened here. This is metaphysics of light.
Every time I look at the light permeating stained glass windows, I think of one expression: light show. Now, looking at the photographs Sylwester took, I can see this show of Light, and our performance – of the Dressed and the Dresser.
I enter this space naked, but after a few seconds I feel I am being dressed in light. “Dressing” is the word that I would use to describe what I am experiencing.
It’s not only the visual side – I can see y skin becomes lighter, I can feel the touch of the light. I feel warm, as if someone Has put some clothes on me.
The light dresses and undresses me at the same time. It reaches the truth, the human being in me. It helps me enlighten the way to my self-discovery, to reveal my true nature. Even though it flows from an artificial source, I can feel a divine element in it, something people have always perceived in the light. As I lay on the dark stage, I feel the personal presence of the light, encouraging me to have a conversation. And so it happens.
I talk with the light. The dialogue is spontaneous and sincere.
I talk with the light, I dance and keep silent with it. I let it dress me up and comb my hair. I stand on my toes to touch its beams.
The photographer is a director of these scenes, whereas me and the light are actors. We do not play any imagined parts, but we present ourselves. He walks and talks to us, to me and to the light. He takes photographs. He captures the moments in which we are at our best.
What really matters is to be oneself, to help what is inside me to be revealed outside. A naked body dressed in light becomes transparent. A sincere, naked body dressed in light allows us to see what has been invisible – the soul.
The light dresses me up in it, by the photographer is also the Dresser. He cuts the light like a tailor, he drapes it. He does it tactfully because light is a precious material, it eludes the frame.
We sometimes forget about the person photographing us because we focus so intensely on ourselves. I watch the light wandering over my body, telling holistically and partially a story about me. Talking about me or about the space behind me so that only body silhouettes can be seen. When the light meets my eyes, it reflects in them and multiplies. It grows and grows. Sometimes it overflows through the dark stage, shines in the air so much that it seems like water, and I feel I swim in it. Then it recedes, the light becomes a drop trickling down my body, enlightening only some points as it goes. I look at the light as at water. Its stream is rapid or slow. I watch light waves lift my hair and breasts above the black depth, but the photographer can also see it and saves the moment in the photo frame.
When the performance ends, light disappears in the dressing room of the lamp. I am surrounded by darkness, the one that was before everything started. Light needs darkness. The contrast makes things clearly visible. This happens in my case. When, after a few days, I look at the already developed photos, I can see that they resemble stained glass. Darkness and light emerging from it. The light not only dresses me, but also permeates me. New quality is created, just as it is with the sun, which flows through a pane of glass in windows of gothic cathedrals. We can see more. Also what is inside. My emotions and feelings. I can feel that the light permeates them as well. Robert Grosseteste, a medieval philosopher and theologian, in his “De luce” work stated that light affects not only the matter, but also what is spiritual. When I look at those photographs, I feel that it also happened here. This is metaphysics of light.
Every time I look at the light permeating stained glass windows, I think of one expression: light show. Now, looking at the photographs Sylwester took, I can see this show of Light, and our performance – of the Dressed and the Dresser.
Photography of intuition | Leszek Mądzik
The meeting of the recipient and the creator of a work of art is a process that largely affects the liberation of experiences on both sides. The object which is in the field of interest of an artist – photographer plays a special part in this meeting. A woman, her body, mysterious beauty, they all constitute intriguing elements in this relation. Sylwester Adamczyk’s sensitivity encourages us to judge the actor of his photographs through the prism of mystery. The light born in the photos accounts for dramatic effects of his pictures. It organizes space and the object that appears before our eyes. The photographs of Sylwester Adamczyk offer an example of understanding and interpreting the presented bodies as works of art. They emerge from the black, naked, and create an original picture, an antithesis of what we call pornography. Our experience of a naked woman does not constitute a cheap attempt at winning our emotions. Following Sylwester Adaczyk’s works, we experience what Jerzy Nowosielski called temples, when he painted women. The vision of the works presented in Sylwester Adamczyk’s exhibition of photographs gives us an example of art which is not so popular these days, and which may even seem untrendy.
Biography | Sylwester Adamczyk
Born in 1962 in Męcina. Photographer, member of the Polish Association of Artists Photographers, graduate of Wyższa Szkoła Biznesu – National Louis University. Lives and works in Nowy Sącz, wher he runs his own photography company and a publishing house. Actor and director of Nowy Sącz theaters: “Workers’ Theater” and NSA, co-creator of Autumn Theater Festival in Nowy Sącz, one of the major events in Nowy Sącz. Awarded with “100th Anniversary of Polish Independence” Medal, a distinction for “Rendering Great Service for Sącz Land” and an honorary badge for “Rendering Great Service for Polish Culture”. Author of many individual photo exhibitions, including: “YEMEN – COUNTRY AND PEOPLE”, “THIS IS AMERICA”, “HOLY FATHER IN PODHALE ‘97”, “PILGRIMS ‘99”, “HIGHLANDERS, HIGHLANDERS …”, “ONE-WAY TICKET”, “DRESSED IN LIGHT”. He also participated in dozens of collective exhibitions. Received awards and distinctions in many national and international competitions. For example in 2005 he came 1st in ELEMENT category of the first Grand Photo Competition of National Geographic Polska. Author of albums: “MOUNT TABOR OF NOWY SĄCZ” – devoted to Saint Margaret’s Basilica in Nowy Sacz, “TARNÓW CATHEDRAL BASILICA – HISTORY AND ART” describing the Cathedral Basilica in Tarnów, “NOWY SĄCZ – IMPRESSIONS”, and a co-author of albums: “THE SONG OF STARY SĄCZ – jointly with Adam Bujak, and “CHILDREN OF THE MOUNTAINS FESTIVAL” and “STARY SĄCZ – HERITAGE OF SAINTS”, jointly with his son, Jakub.
His photographs from the canonization of Blessed Kinga, which was performed on 16th June 1999 by John Paul II in Stary Sącz, became a permanent element of the exhibition in the Pope’s Museum in the Pope’s Altar in Stary Sącz.
Sylwester Adamczyk also participated in many collective exhibitions devoted to Holy Father John Paul II, for example in monumental “SAINT JOHN PAUL II: TO ALL QUARTERS OF THE EARTH”, which was shown in cities of Poland and in the USA in New York, Salem, Los Angeles, San Diego, Doylestown (American Częstochowa). The exhibition was prepared by Oficyna Wydawnicza “Kwadrat” from Kraków, and its authors included such pope photographers as: Adam Bujak, Grzegorz Gałązka, Arturo Mari, Ryszard Rzepecki. His works also comprise many publications documenting pilgrimages of Holy Father John Paul II to his Homeland.
As an artist photographer, Sylwester Adamczyk cooperated with many renowned polish publishers, such as BIAŁY KRUK from Kraków, Oficyna Wydawnicza “Kwadrat”, “BIBLOS” from Tarnów, “PROMYCZEK” Publishing House of Tarnów Diocese. He also cooperates on a regular basis with SCENA PLASTYCZNA of the Catholic University of Lublin, run by Leszek Mądzik, documenting its theater performances. His photographs appeared in many publications, including albums, devoted to the output of Scena Plastyczna and Leszek Mądzik.
His photographs from the canonization of Blessed Kinga, which was performed on 16th June 1999 by John Paul II in Stary Sącz, became a permanent element of the exhibition in the Pope’s Museum in the Pope’s Altar in Stary Sącz.
Sylwester Adamczyk also participated in many collective exhibitions devoted to Holy Father John Paul II, for example in monumental “SAINT JOHN PAUL II: TO ALL QUARTERS OF THE EARTH”, which was shown in cities of Poland and in the USA in New York, Salem, Los Angeles, San Diego, Doylestown (American Częstochowa). The exhibition was prepared by Oficyna Wydawnicza “Kwadrat” from Kraków, and its authors included such pope photographers as: Adam Bujak, Grzegorz Gałązka, Arturo Mari, Ryszard Rzepecki. His works also comprise many publications documenting pilgrimages of Holy Father John Paul II to his Homeland.
As an artist photographer, Sylwester Adamczyk cooperated with many renowned polish publishers, such as BIAŁY KRUK from Kraków, Oficyna Wydawnicza “Kwadrat”, “BIBLOS” from Tarnów, “PROMYCZEK” Publishing House of Tarnów Diocese. He also cooperates on a regular basis with SCENA PLASTYCZNA of the Catholic University of Lublin, run by Leszek Mądzik, documenting its theater performances. His photographs appeared in many publications, including albums, devoted to the output of Scena Plastyczna and Leszek Mądzik.