Katerina Kouzmitcheva

A Polish photographer of Belarusian origin based in Wrocław. Working at the intersection of documentary and artistic photography, she explores how invisible geographical, ideological and psychological boundaries shape individual lives and collective identities. Her projects address political systems, memory, gender and human relationships.

She holds both a master’s degree and a PhD from the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław. She has received awards from TIFA and BIFA, is a recipient of the Gaude Polonia scholarship programme, and is a member of the international Women Photograph collective.

LOCALS, 2020 – 2022

Locals is a photographic project exploring post-war resettlements and the changing geography of Central and Eastern Europe. The project draws on archival photographs and family histories from areas of present-day Belarus that once belonged to Poland, as well as Lower Silesia and the Opole region, which were part of Germany before 1945. In her work, the artist explores, ow memories of place are passed down through generations and how they shape the identities of people living at the intersection of history and geography. At the heart of the project is a series of site-specific photographic projections created in different countries. Archival images are reintroduced into contemporary landscapes, appearing on house facades, trees and architectural features. An integral part of the project is a patchwork quilt, a photographic object assembled from fragments of images and traces of family history. Evoking the space of the home, it becomes a metaphor for memory and identity pieced together from scattered fragments. https://katerinakouzmitcheva.com/locals