In Praise of Shadows
Poland
2025
In his series In Praise of Shadow, Tomasz Kawecki explores the concept of shadow and its connection to the natural world and old beliefs. A world where ghosts and legends would have taken refuge in dark spaces, caves and abandoned houses.
The artist has captured these strange worlds by wandering around Nowa Ruda, a town in Silesia, one of the most polluted regions in Poland. Working exclusively at night by the light of his torch, Tomasz Kawecki discovers organisms and natural elements that are hidden in the dark. A mystical and unnerving world, where mushrooms and mould touch on our primitive fear of nature’s uncontrollable forces. But is it not this ancestral fear that had led humanity to protect itself and become civilised?
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About the artist
Born in 1993, Tomasz Kawecki is a Polish visual artist. His work is based on natural phenomena. He conceives his practice as a subjective documentation exploring the crossroads between personal experiences and cultural stories. He is particularly interested in legends and myths.