Karolina Gembara is a photographer living and working in Warsaw, based in Delhi between 2009 and 2016. Member of Sputnik Photos since 2018, Karolina’s interests revolve around issues of home, belonging, migration, changing lands and identities. Recently she has also focused on the political situation in her home country.
Karolina obtained her MA degree in International Relations and Diploma in Journalism (2005, University of Wroclaw). She studied Photography in Wroclaw (2007-2009), Art History in Warsaw (2016-2018) and participated in the first Mentoring Programme with Sputnik Photos in Warsaw (2012-2013). During that time she also assisted Rafal Milach. After 2013, her work has been exhibited in a various number of international events, receiving also nominations for global photography prizes. Currently, she is a PHD student at University of Social and Human Sciences SWPS in Warsaw.
About ‘When We Lie Down, Grasses Grow From Us’ – words by Karolina Gembara:
‘When We Lie Down, Grasses Grow From Us’ comprises photographs taken during the period of almost 7 years while I lived in Delhi. I developed a love/hate relationship with the city, born out of a combination of fascination, homesickness and a feeling of transience. The pictures I took during those years speak about that craving for comfort in the big city, and the loneliness that accompanied us every day. They also reveal my own need for a home and an attempt to create one. The title comes from the poem by Monica Mody, ‘The Capacity’.
