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Ewa Monika Zebrowski ~
Montreal, Canada |
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Sam Abell, photographer: "Ewa Zebrowski's thoughtful photographs are like her elegant books — each one is a refined world within itself. Her work imparts in us a quiet and ineffable desire. We wish to be within the world she photographs." Anne Michaels, author: "Beauty - not aesthetic pleasure, not the exquisite nor the perfect — is saturated with feeling. Ewa Zebrowski's photographs resemble moving images, for they are less concerned with an arrested moment than with the mystery of time steeping towards a moment. One feels the light changing even as one looks; intensifying, reaching greatest potency, whether toward darkness or radiance. This imbues each image with a profound poignancy, for each photograph is a small story of desire, of a life beyond grasp, lost to us or never found, or at the aching brim of becoming. Desire is a kind of grief, and Ewa Zebrowski's photographs are replete with this desire." |
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| Poet Series Books: A Circle of Poets | |
Sea of Lanterns 5.9 x 5.9"; 27 portfolios (6 of three pages, 21 of two pages). 29 colored inkjet images. Printed on Moab Entrada 190 gms paper. In 6 x 6 x 2" white board slipcase. Ewa Zebrowski: "This book is an exploration of the relationship between word and image, a duet (of sorts), where the images complement the words and vice versa. It consists of 27 small books: books with text only, books with image only, books with text and image, sometimes, three pages, sometimes two. Although there is an order, the books can also be looked at randomly, the reader deciding the order. Each book is a little book in and of itself, a secret to be savored. Sea of Lanterns is an intimate experience of discovery, an experience of reading images and words. Memory fragments." Anne Michaels: "For me this project is a conversation between image and language, and is about what emerges in a conversation; the meaning is held in each component and in what lies unspoken. I absorbed your images and addressed myself to the images, and also to you, the maker of these images. Sometimes in a conversation one falls silent, sometimes our thoughts are led thorough association beyond what is said, sometimes we want to show something to the other." Book Arts Newsletter No. 67, Reports & Reviews: "The artist’s book, Sea of Lanterns, embodies the considered and complex poetry of its two authors: author and Orange Prize winner, Anne Michaels, and photographer and book artist, Ewa Monika Zebrowski. The collection of twenty-seven numbered folios open up to reveal text, image or both – it is a deconstructed book in seventeen stanzas of poetry and twenty-nine digital inkjet images, ultimately revealing a dialogue between word and image. There is a fluid poetry between the two media, effortless and evocative. Zebrowski’s images of Venice seem to finish Michaels’s sentences. It is a journey that is difficult to describe beyond that of a poetic duet. "Michaels has authored books of poetry and has also garnered critical acclaim for her richly composed novels Fugitive Pieces and The Winter Vault. Zebrowski’s artist’s books can be found in public and private collections across Canada and the United States, from The National Library of Canada to The Center for Book Arts in New York. This is the first collaboration for these two Canadian women. "The book, if one can classify Sea of Lanterns as such (it spreads out more as a poetic meander), sets up careful pairings of poetry and imagery, of blank pages, and an overall consideration of sequence. There is a drama of unfolding, turning the page to the next stanza, the next image, unfolding the next folio. Of a smaller scale and contained in a box, the pristine and delicate series urges thoughtful attention. The project, produced in a limited edition of twenty on Moab Entrada 190gms and presented in a slipcase, is an experienced to be savored." |
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End of Beauty photo-eye blog, October 2011: "END OF BEAUTY is delicate artist book that awakens a sense of thoughtful contemplation. The photographs here — all taken in the same room — display a quiet ambiance with each individual image exhibiting a powerful presence. There is an illusive emptiness within the spaces of Zebrowski's photographs, creating a mysterious environment that forces the viewer to engage with the space carefully. Combining text within the accordion fold design and limited to an edition of 20 copies, END OF BEAUTY is a precious and subtle object." |
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tenuta di ricordi 5 x 7"; 72 pages. 24 digit inkjet colour images. Printed on Moab Entrada 190 gms. Hand stitched binding. Divided into four sections: pays; objets; temps; English translation. Each section with wrap around Arches embossed cover. Housed in paper-covered slipcase. Ewa Zebrowski: "tenuta di recordi [estate of memories] is an exploration of the relationship that exists between words and images. It is an artist's book about the connections between geography, language, identity, and memory. "Our home is not always our place of birth. Sometimes a new language touches our core, a truer expression of who we are. Sometimes geography claims our hearts. "For me Spannochia, an organic farm near Siena, was full of secrets and history. I wandered the immense property, inside and out, spontaneously recording my impressions with my camera. I felt the presence of the past as I walked from room to room in the castello and visited the outlying buildings. One could sense the residue of the lives lived on that domain. I discovered a secret garden, family photographs, ancient stones. "tenuta di ricordi is a collaboration between myself and Canadian writer, Pascale Quiviger. Pascale's words add another dimension to my sightings. Three parts in three languages: English, French, and Italian. Her text reflects her experience of this landscape suspended in time: its vistas, its odours, its sounds, its textures, its voices. In tenuta di ricordi the words inform the images and vice versa. The two form part of a single whole. "During the summer of 2006 I visited Spannocchia. I was introduced to Pascale by Randall Stratton, the person who manages the property. Pascale had lived there for four years. For her Spannocchia was a place of constant discoveries, of nurturing explorations of nature and inspiring encounters with people.... "Spannocchia is an 11-acre organic agricultural estate in central Tuscany, a former tenuta, which has existed since the late Middle Ages. At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was bought by an Italian family who is now promoting its unique character and working to create a self-sufficient domain that is accessible to the public. Their vision is 'to become an internationally recognized example for sustainable development in rural areas and an educational center for students, scholars, researchers, artists, and others committed to preserving cultural history and the environment for future generations.' Sustainability, sharing and preservation are the driving forces behind this unique domain, a place caught in memory and in history." |
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vedute di venezia 4.5 x 7.5" in illustrated slipcase. Slipcover image from an engraving by Dionisio Moretti. 27 color images printed on Moab Entrada 190gms. Book and slipcover design by Zebrowski. Graphic design by Francine Savard. Bookbinding by Jacques Fournier. The opening quotation, which Zebrowski says "reflects the mood of the work so strongly", is a fragment of a conversation between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan from "Invisible Cities" by Italo Calvino. "Memory's images, once they are fixed in the words, are erased," Polo said. "Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it."
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A Circle of Poets Ewa Zebrowski: "I have created three monographs/books, a series which brings together three poets who have added so much to the literary landscape of the English language. Their work has taken me on a journey of discovery, an extended journey during which I have refined my vision, inspired by their vision and their poetry. Their words have created landscapes for me. Landscapes which I have revisited with my ears and my eyes, landscapes which I have recorded with my camera. "While experiencing the Venetian canali, vicoli and campi, that seduced Joseph Brodsky over his winter breaks, the New England woods, marshes, meadows and streams that were Frost’s domain, and the Maine beaches and shores that for me echoed with the words of Mark Strand’s poetry, I came to a deeper understanding of their poetry. Sensing what might have inspired them made me want to seize/capture images that are a reflection of their inner landscapes. "My own journey has led me to create books that are tactile, intimate visual experiences for the reader, a parallel journey to their poetic words. The images are small and intimate: black and white for Brodsky and Frost, colour for Strand. Brodsky, Frost, Strand. Their words have served as markers for me, guiding me on my own creative path, an intersection between language and image, discovering their poetry in the landscape." |
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Another Place 8.75 x 8.75"; 18 loose, unnumbered pages, laid in a paper-fold case, which is blind embossed with the title. Photography by Ewa Zebrowski: 13 digital inkjet prints printed by an Epson Stylus 1270 printer on Epson Matte Heavyweight paper. Portfolio and Embossing on BFK Rives 250g paper. Housed in lightweight slipcase covered in silver paper. A collaboration with Pulitzer Prize winning, Wallace Stevens Award winning, and former US Poet Laureate, Mark Strand. His poem, "Another Place" where light is "not enough for blindness / or clear sight / of what is to come" inspire and inform Zebrowski's delicate photographs. Ewa Zebrowski: "Mark Strand wrote text for my first artist's book inspired by poetry, remembering brodsky, in 2004. Brodsky had been his friend and colleague. A few years passed and I decided I wanted to make a book in his honour, a continuation of the poet's series. It was hard choosing a poem. I find all his poetry moving. For about a year I shot and then edited images which I then showed to Mark. He named his favourites. I listened. His input was valuable for me. "I finally chose "Another Place" as the poem to include. Mark suggested that we use this as the title for the work itself. We chose the title together and the way the poem appeared at the end. Mark wanted it to be printed very pale as if disappearing." |
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Poetry in the Landscape: The Robert Frost Trail 8.5 x 8.5”; 20 leaves. Fifteen numbered inkjet prints laid in letter fold wrapper. 35 mm black-and-white prints scanned and printed on the Epson Stylus 1270 printer onto Epson Matte Heavyweight Paper. Portfolio and embossing on BFK Rives 250g paper. 8.9 x 8.9" paper-covered slipcase. Binding by Jacques Fournier. Photographs by Zebrowski accompany Frost's "The Road Not Taken." Zebrowski: "Someone had the idea that his poetry should be placed in the natural habitat about which it was written, thus adding meaning both to the place and to the poetry. "The walk leads us in a circle through woods, past marsh, stream and |
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| Zebrowski Out of Print Titles: • remembering brodsky |
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Page last update: 05.06.12
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