Kacper Kowalski: Side Effects

Our relationship with nature is a complicated one. We farm the land and the land feeds us. We harness the earth and the earth lets us to settle on it. We exploit the planet, and give us its raw materials and water. We admire the changing beauty and generosity of nature. We subdue it, destroy its beauty, drain its resources, poison and rape it. Only rarely does it manifest its power - through an exploding volcano, flooding rains, earthquakes.

Soaring above, Kacper Kowalski watches nature’s struggle with civilization. He records it in abstract shots – at times painterly, at times graphic, architectural in their order and structure. The struggle has no winners and the outcome – however unnatural or inhuman – is surprisingly beautiful and harmonious.

This requires an eye of an artist. The strength of Kowalski’s images lies in the fact that our delight in them precedes understanding of what we’re looking at.

- Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka, the project’s curator

 

With a degree in architecture, Kowalski focuses on aerial photography. He is nowadays one of world's best pilot photographers; taking his shots from a paraglider he captures previously unseen natural environments and normally inaccessible cityscapes. However, these are not merely pretty pictures.

"When flying, I cannot build a relationship with people the way it is in classical photography. I look at forests, fields and lakes. I look at natural catastrophes and I watch people taking rest - what I see is a portrait of civilization."

For his images he has received numerous awards, including the World Press Photo award in 2009 (Arts and Entertainment category), Grand Press Photo award, International Photography Award (IPA), Sony World Photography Award.

 

Text by Maciej Kuźmicz

©Photographs Kacper Kowalski