Pamoja Press Publishing House, 2023
Crop Rotation / Collected Texts: 2005–2020 is a collection of autobiographical miniatures in prose and poetry by Aleksandra Młynarczyk-Gemza. It contains short, lyrical notes from the author’s personal archive (2005–2020) that make reference to the author’s experiences during various phases of her life: from a teenager exploring her subjective perspective in a village in southern Poland and then a high school pupil in the town of Żywiec, to a young woman recognizing her own body and desires while facing the challenges of being a young university student and then, later, a PhD candidate in Krakow. In contrast to Młynarczyk-Gemza’s literary debut, the auto-fictional book Notes of a Madwoman (2022), Crop Rotation defies all attempts at categorization and does not fall easily into any literary genres. It is more of a photographic essay, in which each text is counterpointed with a black-and-white photograph by Młynarczyk-Gemza. The logic of the texts is photographic – the diary notes are arranged chronologically like fragments of reality grasped with the camera’s lens. This is why the author herself likes to call it “punk haiku”. A prologue to the book, “2004: The Diary of a Sixteen-Year- Old” was published in Empiria, No. 2 “Deliria”, March 2023.
Publisher: Pamoja Press
Place: Warsaw
Release: 2023
Pages: 120
Language: Polish/English
Translation: Scotia Gilroy
Graphic design: Kaja Gliwa
Proofreading of the Polish texts: Anna Mirkowska
Pamoja Press Publishing House, 2023
Table of content:
Piotr Wesołowski, Stan utracony – deliria pewnego sklejenia
Aleksandra Młynarczyk-Gemza, 2004. Dziennik szesnastolatki
Agata Pyzik, Piotr Wesołowski, Trąd, malarstwo, szaleństwo
Szaweł Płóciennik, Impresariat psychoimpresji. Powidoki Oddziału Przepięknego
Jakub Gorecki, Narodziny kliniki z ducha fotografii
Le K. K. Zdmokrzyszyn, Spiralny manifest
Ewa Opałka, Wariatka na strychu. Twórczość kobiet, szaleństwo i choroba
Publisher: Pamoja Press
Place: Warsaw
Release: 2023
Pages: 120
Language: polish
Cover photo: Aleksandra Młynarczyk-Gemza, The Model Thinks about Her Father, 2023
Publisher: ZNAK
Place: Cracow
Release: 2022
Pages: 304
Language: polish
Cover photo: Aleksandra Młynarczyk-Gemza, no title from the series How to Take Power from the Old Eye that Knows , 2019
W stronę integracji cienia. Kobiecy foto-rytuał
UNIVERSITAS Publishing House, 2021
I would like to shortly describe my project: Way to “Shadow Integration” Femalephoto-ritual. The title refers to Shadow Integration, a psychological process discovered and described by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung. The main idea of this concept is to bring the hidden, denied parts of the Self into consciousness to avoid losing psychological energy and to prevent those parts from confrontation with one’s consciousness. In my project, Jung’s theory provides a metaphor for cultural restrictions imposed on the female body. These restrictions force women to be always beautiful and young, tell them that general success in their life depends on their public appearance, on the way they present themselves to others. The others are mainly men assessing the attractiveness of women, but also women who judge and compete with each other. Many things are unwanted and denided in women’s appearance, like Jung’sshadow. Moreover, culture creates taboo related to female sexuality and body functions such as menstruation, menopause, and many more. In my project, I created photo sessions with twelve women. Before each session, I had interviewed my future model. I asked her if she liked her body, what she would like to change in her body, what she thought about sexuality, and how she perceived womanhood in general. After the interview, which helped deconstruct cultural taboo and establish a relationship with the participant, we have moved on to the photo-session. My goal was to create women’s portraits different from those known from advertising, Hollywood movies or fashion magazines. At the same time, I wanted my models to identify with those photographs willingly. I am aware that it is a kind of utopian dream that my project could change toxic images of beauty and cultural cliches. However, I treat it as my female contribution to a more equal and mindful world which is constantly facing the darkness of patriarchy.
Publisher: UNIVERSITAS
Place: Cracow
Release: 2021
Pages: 155
Language: polish