Paulina Korobkiewicz (b. 1993, Suwałki, Poland) is a London-based photographer and visual artist. Her work explores themes of cultural identity, memory, and the transformation of social spaces. Her projects focus on the visual and cultural landscape of her hometown and region as well as that of her current residence in the UK, documenting everyday scenes and environments with a sense of nostalgia and socio-political commentary, drawing from her own experience of migration. Her practice involves community-based research, conducting workshops, and mentoring. In addition to developing long-form personal projects, Paulina continues to undertake commissions and residencies.
She has participated in several group and solo exhibitions internationally. Her work has been featured in a variety of publications, such as Hapax Magazine, Kajet Journal, Contemporary Lynx, Photomonitor, the BJP, and Creative Review. Paulina is a winner of the Camberwell Book Prize, has been shortlisted and nominated for awards including BarTur Photobook Award, Magnum Graduate Photographers Award and Prix Pictet.
EDUCATION
2012 - 2015
First-Class Honours BA Degree in Fine Art Photography,
Camberwell College of Arts, London, UK
2010 - 2012
Warsaw School of Photography and Graphic Design, Warsaw, Poland
AWARDS
2024 FORMAT International Photography Festival Open Call, longlist
2024 Athens Photo Festival Open Call, shortlist
2020 FORMAT International Photography Festival Open Call, shortlist
2020 Athens Photo Festival Open Call, shortlist
2018 Prix Pictet HOPE, nomination
2017 Magnum Photos Graduate Photographers Award, nomination
2017 Belfast Photo Festival Open Submission, shortlist
2016 Camberwell Book Prize, winner
2015 BarTur Photobook Award, shortlist
2015 Creative Review and JCDecaux Talent Spotting Showcase, selection
2011 Krakow Free Art Day Festival Open Call, winner
RESIDENCIES AND COMMISSIONS
2024 Artist Commission, Eastern European Photography Club: Newham Through Our Lens, Rosetta Arts in parntership with Centrala Space and Roma Support, comissioned by Culture Within Newham, funded by Arts Council England
2022-23 Artist residency, Post-Socialist Britain?: Memory, Representation and Political Identity amongst German, Polish and Ukrainian Immigrants in the UK, commissioned by Centrala Space in partnership with University of Birmingham and Nottingham Trent University, funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
2023 Research Commission, Central Eastern European Communities in Newham, Rosetta Arts in partnership with Centrala Space and World on Our Doorstep, funded by Culture Within Newham
2022 Artist Commission, Hapax Magazine Issue 3
2022 Artist Commission, Migrant Essential Workers, University of Glasgow, Middlesex University and the University of Sheffield with the support of the Polish Social and Cultural Association (POSK), in partnership with the Polish Expats Association, Centrala Space, Fife Migrants Forum and PKAVS Minority Communities Hub
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 solo exhibition Homeland, with contributions from Sylwia Ciszewska-Peciak, Yuxi Hou, Ismail Khokon, Marcin Forys and the Central Eastern European Photography Club participants, Centrala Space, Birmingham, UK
2023 solo exhibition Homeland, with contributions from Sylwia Ciszewska-Peciak, Yuxi Hou, Ismail Khokon, Marcin Forys and the Central Eastern European Photography Club participants, Surface Gallery, Nottingham, UK
2020 solo exhibition Udarny trud, Centrala Space, Birmingham, UK
2019 solo exhibition Disco Polo: Between East and West, projectroom at Hilger NEXT, Vienna, Austria
2016 solo exhibition Disco Polo, Bermondsey Project Space, London, UK
2010 solo exhibition Miasto w Szczegółach, Galeria Jednego Obrazu, Suwałki, Poland
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS
2024 group show Rethinking Eastern Europe, curated by Zula Rabikowska and Very Hadzhiyska, Collectives Hub: Common Ground, Photo Fringe 2024, Phoenix Art Space, Brighton, UK
2024 mobile pop-up exhibition Rethinking Eastern Europe, curated by Zula Rabikowska, in collaboration Velophoto and Claudia Janke during Les Rencontres D'Arles Photography Festival, France
2024 group show Rethinking Eastern Europe, curated by Zula Rabikowska, Photobook Cafe, London, UK
2023 group show I See You, curated by Anne-Marie Briscombe and Pia Jaime, Fringe Arts Bath, UK
2022 screening and book display Synergy, Young Echo AllDayer, Cube Microplex, Bristol, UK
2022 group show spaces of (dis)connection: migrant essential workers, Art27, Edinburgh, Scotland
2022 group show spaces of (dis)connection: migrant essential workers, Clapham Library, London, UK
2022 group show spaces of (dis)connection: migrant essential workers, Centrala Space, Birmingham, UK
2021 projection Life After Covid, Riga Photomonth, Riga, Latvia
2020 digital window gallery exhibition Wall Unit - Open Source #016, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK
2019 group photobook exhibition Photobook.Storytelling, curated by Fresh From Poland and Paper Beats Rock, Paperlust Photobook Fest, Fundacja Sztuki Nowej ZNACZY SIĘ, Krakow, Poland
2018 group show From the Heart of Europe, curated by Galerie Ernst Hilger, Bermondsey Project Space, London, UK
2018 group show Post-Soviet Visions: image and identity in the new Eastern Europe, curated by Ekow Eshun and Anastasiia Fedorova, Calvert 22, London, UK
2017 book display Hackney WickED Festival / Hackney Wick & Fish Island Open Studio DIY, The Hive, London, UK
2017 book launch Perspectives, The Photographers' Gallery, London, UK
2016 book launch Disco Polo, Dadiani Fine Art, 30 Cork Street, London, UK
2016 book display Contemporary Lynx Magazine Launch, Calvert 22, London, UK
2016 group show Distortion, curated by Fresh From Poland, Krakow Photo Fringe 2016, Marka, Krakow, Poland
2016 zine launch Distortion, published by Fresh From Poland, designed by Hekla Studio, Super Salon, Warsaw, Poland
2015 group show Vertical Living, curated by Alison Zavos, PIX 2015, Seattle Centre, Seattle, USA
2015 group show Caissa Rising Arting: The Today Art Museum E, Today Museum, Beijing, China
2015 group show Urban Living, curated by Feature Shoot, New York, USA
2015 group show Creative Review and JCDecaux Talent Spotting Guide 2015, across all JCDecaux digital screens UK-wide
2015 group show Camberwell College of Arts Undergraduate Summer Show 2015, Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, UK
2014 group show Fingerprint, curated by the Negative Space, Unit 27 The Artworks - Elephant & Castle, London, UK
2014 group show and debate in collaboration with Peckham Vision, New State, Peckham Liberal Club, London, UK
2013 group show Unit, Cafe Gallery Projects & Dilston Grove, London, UK
2011 group show Faces - Twarze, Centre of Culture and Education in Skrzyszów, Poland
2011 group show Record of a Place - Zapis Miejsca, Free Art Day Festival, Krakow, Poland
2010 projection curated by Gazeta Wyborcza, Zachęta - the Polish National Gallery of Fine Art, Warsaw, Poland
2009 group show Etnoklimaty, Museum of Ethnography in Toruń, Poland
ART FAIRS
2024 Bristol’s Photobook Fair - BOP 24, Women and the Photobook Library pop-up reading room, Bristol, UK
2024 A Bigger Book Fair - Peckham 24, Women and the Photobook Library pop-up reading room, London, UK
2021 11th Lisbon's Photobook Fair - Feira do Livro de Fotografia de Lisboa, Arquivo Fotográfico Municipal De Lisboa, Portugal
2021 Art Bibuła Online - Targi zinów, photobooków i małych wydawnictw, Katowice, Poland
2018 International Art Fair Vienna Contemporary, Galerie Ernst Hilger booth, Vienna, Austria
2016 Warsaw Art Book Fair - Warszawskie Targi Ksiazki Artystycznej #2, Pin-Up Studio, Warsaw, Poland
2016 7th Lisbon's Photobook Fair - Feira do Livro de Fotografia de Lisboa, Arquivo Fotográfico Municipal De Lisboa, Portugal
2016 Istanbul Photobook Festival 2016, Photo-book Library: Books From Poland, curated by Fresh From Poland and Paper Beats Rock, Istanbul, Turkey
PUBLICATIONS
British Journal of Photography, Work, issue #7919, 2024
Hapax Magazine, issue 3, 2022
Kajet Journal, issue 5, published by Dispozitiv Books: Udarny trud, 2022
Synergy, self-published, 2021
Poetry, published by Shutter Hub Editions, 2021
KWAS Magazine, issue 2, Klops, 2020
Wall Unit, self-published, 2018
Post-Soviet Visions: image and identity in the new Eastern Europe, Calvert 22 Exhibition Catalogue, 2018
Perspectives, published by Camberwell Press, 2017
Disco Polo, self-published, 2016
Distortion, published by Fresh From Poland, 2016
Contemporary Lynx Magazine, issue 3, The Aesthetics of the 90s: Disco Polo, 2016
Creative Review Photography Annual 2015
Camberwell College of Arts, BA Photography Degree Show Catalogue, 2015
Unit, Southwark Park Galleries Exhibition Catalogue, 2013
TALKS & WORKSHOPS
2024 Series of workshops, Eastern European Photography Club: Newham Through Our Lens, Rosetta Arts in parntership with Centrala Space and Roma Support, comissioned by Culture Within Newham, funded by Arts Council England
2023 Workshop, Crafting Collective Memory: Explore ‘Homeland’ Through Art of Collage-Making, in collaboration with Ismail Khokon, Surface Gallery, Nottingham, UK
2023 Workshop, Sequencing and Storytelling for Local Artists, in collaboration with James Cunliffe, Centrala Space, Birmingham, UK
2023 Series of workshops, Exploring the Art of Zine Making, in collaboration with Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora, Centrala Space, Birmingham, UK
2023 Community event, Homeland: Celebrating Communities, family photo-booth, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK
2023 Community event, Homeland: Celebrating Communities, family photo-booth, West Bromwich Town Hall, UK
2023 Artist talk and workshop, Thomas Tallis School, London, UK
2022 Panel discussion, Community, Collectivity, Photography, with Stephen Burke, Anka Gregorczak and Łukasz Szamałek, Centrala Space, Birmingham, UK
2020 Artist talk, In Conversation: Paulina Korobkiewicz, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK
2020 Workshop, Slavic Goddess, photo-booth in collaboration with Centrala Space, Erdington Community Centre, Birmingham, UK
2020 Artist talk, In Conversation: Paulina Korobkiewicz & Natalia Domagała, Centrala Space, Birmingham, UK
2019 Artist talk, The Ambiguity Of Aesthetics Choices, London Institute of Photography, UK
2019 Panel discussion, Hybrid Prophecy exhibition by Kle Mens, Rejekt Gallery, London, UK
2019 Artist talk, Networking event for CEE creatives #3, Clapham Library, London, UK
2016 Artist talk, Camberwell College of Arts, London, UK
2010 Artist talk, Muzeum Wigier, Stary Folwark, Poland
ORGANISED EXHIBITIONS
2018 group show QUEER GAZE FROM POLAND: A portrait of love and desire, curated by Fresh From Poland, Bermondsey Project Space, London, UK
2018 short film showcase Visual Poetry: A work in progress showcase by 11 LCC MA Documentary Film Students, sponsored by Flattr, Bermondsey Project Space, London, UK
COMPETITION JURY MEMBER
VIA ARTS PRIZE 2018
OLYMPUS x UAL Photography Award 2018