Abstract of the accomplished photographic work
Abzgram is a photographic and installation project responding to a radical reform of the school system in 2017. Wojtas reacts by introducing more absurdity—through surreal images of play, chaos, and spontaneous behavior. Her work blends irony and critique with a childlike visual language: from caging her brother’s head to oversized sculptures printed with photographs. A key concept is the “hidden curriculum”—how architecture and spatial order reflect authority: classroom layouts, teacher’s desk placement, even the absurd rule in Polish schools of painting walls green. Wojtas transforms classrooms into absurd playgrounds, challenging rigid, militaristic education systems. By rejecting meticulous planning, embracing spontaneity, and abandoning conventional exhibition forms, she creates participatory spaces where photography becomes immersive. Her installations invite viewers to see how discipline and control are embedded not only in rules but also in space itself—revealing how nonsense a
Description of the project you intend to pursue through the Prize
The project reflects on emotional loss, limerence, and symbolic death after love ends. Limerence—a state of obsessive longing and idealization—can cause intense grief when unreciprocated. I plan to photograph cemetery architecture across different cities, focusing on tombstones and sculptural elements as metaphors for farewell, longing, and transformation. The images will form the base of collage-monster installations that merge digital photography with manually transferred textures. My working method combines intuitive fieldwork with constructed visual layering. Technically, the project uses digital photography alongside analog techniques such as decoupage and printing on fabric. The final result will be an artist book in the shape of a heart, inspired by the medieval Chansonnier de Jean de Montchenu. The heart-book will juxtapose images of loss, surreal objects, and poetic rituals, referencing sunrise and sunset as metaphors for emotional cycles. The project turns romantic collapse i