We invite you to an extraordinary exhibition by an extraordinary artist - opening March 15 at 17:00 Jelenia Góra, Gallery "Corridor".
Here's what Eva Rubinstein herself wrote about her exhibition, and her attitude to photography in 2024:
A few words to the exhibition in Jelenia Gora
I'm often asked how the change happened and what was the path from my first involvement in ballet and theater - to photography... And it didn't happen all of a sudden, because between these very different stages of my artistic life was: 12 years of marriage, three children, divorce. These 12 years of life showed me a very different world from the theatrical one, "pretending", in costumes, on stages, depending on directors, choreographers, etc. After these life experiences and divorce, there was no way to return to that old theatrical world, to that way of life. And then photography appeared in my life, which gave me something completely new. The effect of what I did today (alone, in person!) lasted through the night, but also was the same tomorrow morning, and on... It's like a miracle! It was then that I realized how important this is to me.
At some point in my life, the meaning of photography changed for me, and from being an end in itself, it became an object of study, a way of learning something about what I call the "third dimension." This dimension is the result of the fusion of external reality, as we perceive it, with our deepest feelings and reactions to it. This fusion produces a kind of inner landscape beneath the surface of the image, which we can explore, try to understand, or - of course - ignore.
How and why do we choose a particular subject? Why do we choose this lens and this angle? What do our photos say about our perception of the world, about other people, but also about ourselves? Are we trying to represent something, express something, create something, influence something, change something...?
I have always felt that - in a sense - the image "possesses" me; in other words, I am attracted to something or someone, and that something or someone triggers a sense of intimacy in me that I must respond to. In this sense, every photograph we take is part of a self-portrait, although we often neither understand it nor admit it for a long time after the picture is taken. And it always says much more about ourselves than what we photograph. For me, a photograph is a kind of dream that has been awakened; it is a dream that does not disappear in the morning, is neither censored nor forgotten. On the contrary, it remains present, gives itself to be looked at again and again, until we are finally ready to extract from it all the deeper meanings, contents.
Photographing people whether on the street, informally, or for portraits, will tell you everything about the photographer's persona based on his sensitivity - or sometimes lack thereof! There are photographers who will treat people simply as material with which they are allowed to do whatever they like, without pointing out or considering their individual humanity (I could give names!). There are others who, even in difficult situations (I'm thinking here of a certain war photographer) take the time, even if it's only fractions of a second, to treat others as they would like to be treated themselves. Such people, as it were, "recognize" themselves in another person. I think that in this sense, most photos say more about the photographer than about their apparent subject.
This is not an exercise in self-obsession; rather, this is about elevating and expanding our knowledge and awareness that photography is clearer than handwriting and more enduring than dreams; it can ask and sometimes answer the most profound and fundamental questions about our lives. There is no doubt in my mind that photography, with its ability to "grab" information within hundredths of a fraction of a second and to last as a witness, is a unique tool that allows us to look beneath the surface of our lives.
Eve Rubinstein, New York, February 2024
Ewa Rubinstein's exhibition at the Korytarz Gallery was organized courtesy of Mr. Wojciech Stanislaw Grochowalski - director of the Artur Rubinstein International Music Foundation in Lodz.
