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“I’ve always been a collector. As a teenager I
collected books and teddy bears. As an adult I collect shoes and music. As a
traveler I collect memories and foreign currency. As a photographer I
collect moments of beauty, poetic scenes that I want to capture forever.”
- Magda Biernat
“Continental Bounce” is a collection of
photographs taken during Magda Biernat's recent one year, around the world
journey. Together with her husband, writer Ian Webster, she traveled across
three continents, Africa, Asia and Oceania visiting a cross section of
diverse cultures.
In this selection of photos, Biernat has found common
patterns that emerge in the variety of textural landscapes through which
they traveled. She explores beyond the famous icons in tourist brochures
into the homes and lives of the people whom they met and were befriended by
on their journey. What emerges is a quiet and often intimate reflection of
the similarities of lives and landscape around the world.
Many
photos come from unique opportunities to visit areas not usually accessible
to tourists; guided by locals in the township of Khayelitsha, hosted by a
Maasai family in Kenya's rift valley and as a guest of Tibetan refugees in
Boudhanath, Nepal. Invitations such as these provided Biernat an invaluable
chance to illuminate the lesser seen corners of the world.
The
exhibition commences with the release of the book under the same title.
About the Photographer:
Magda Biernat was born and
raised in Poznan, Poland. In 2002, after obtaining her Masters in Marketing
and Management from Adam Mickiewicz University and BFA in Photography from
Wielkopolska School of Photography, she moved to United States settling down
in Seattle, WA. After two years in the North West, she decided to move to
New York and started working at Magnum Photos Inc. Surrounded by great
photojournalistic works at Magnum she turned her interests towards something
different, and begun photographing architecture and interiors for a living.
Besides freelancing for different architecture offices and design studios,
she worked as a Picture Editor at Metropolis Magazine. In 2007 she decided
to leave her steady life in New York and took off for a year long trip
around the world. While traveling to more than 17 countries she worked on
her personal projects concerning urban landscape and habitat.
Biernat has been exhibited internationally since 2001 with solo exhibitions
in Poland, Belgium and United States. She lives and works in New York City.
She most recently won a Lucie Award for her project on the Lower East Side
of New York.
www.magdabiernatphotography.com
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