Tower Over Me with Barriers

As you walk along an ordinary sidewalk, something unexpected catches your eye. The beauty you usually seek in open sky or arching trees appears instead in the quiet, overlooked world beneath your feet. Pavement, often dismissed, becomes a subtle canvas where time, nature, and human touch converge. Cracks branch like veins, growth pushes through worn seams, and weathered planes whisper stories of endurance. Beneath hurried steps, poetry exists in erosion and persistence.

I was born in Gdańsk, a city layered with centuries of history, where streets carry the traces of countless footsteps before mine. Childhood forged a tangible connection to concrete, not just as backdrop, but as something felt. It can skin your knees as much as it can shelter you from the elements. Early experiences of fracture taught me to read material and recognize strength in what bears pressure. Concrete became both witness and companion, showing how resilience leaves its mark.

I moved from Poland to Sweden, and later to the United States, where each new landscape revealed structures shaped by different histories, climates, and purpose. In recent years, illness altered my understanding of vulnerability and survival. What I had long observed scarred, changed, and enduring, began to mirror inner states shaped by perseverance. Concrete became more than metaphor; it became a language.

Drawn to these textures, I began photographing intimate, abstract terrains. This evolved into working directly with concrete on canvas, exploring uncertainty, strength, and fate. What you see is the result of that love affair, a dialogue between concrete and apophenia, a composite romance.