Meet the Artist - Anna Bodnar

Updated Tue, 2010-08-24 08:08

Meet the Artist - Anna Bodnar

    Anna was born in 1982 in Poland. She is a philologist and a computer graphic artist. Visual art has always been of interest for her.

Nowadays, photography is her passion and her way of self expression.
Her usual sources of inspiration are day-by-day life and literature.
She does both: pure photography and digital photo-manipulation to create her artworks. She uses the cheapest and forever punctual model which is very often herself…

Today, Anna is a well known artist in Poland and around the world. She participated on over 30 photo-art exhibitions, 13 of which were solo exhibitions, and she is constantly being published in various photography and fine-art magazines.

Here is what she told us about herself and her vision:

     “My works are born out of emotions that I experience. Naturally, my emotions are not born out of emptiness. The style and thematics of my artworks are a direct response to what is happening around me. Every day I see in color magazines photographs of neatly dressed and super-handsome "supermen". Generally, their appearance has nothing in common with how the average and real Mr. Smith will look in the same outfit. However, it doesn’t mean that in my artworks, I run to opposite extreme and demonstrate deformity or injury. I try to create a rich, symbolic layer which awakens deep emotions within the spectator. I do not intend to shock anyone by photographing a worthless scene from a cheap horror movie where the viewer's attention is attracted by puddles of blood and terrible wounds ...

    I often photograph a nude body, because by means of nudity I think it is possible to convey the human soul, although it might not be comprehended by the majority. The body can say about a person no less than his face, unless of course the body is represented vulgarly.

    In my artworks, I mostly demonstrate my own body because: Firstly - it is always with me. And secondly - the absence of an intermediary between the photographer and the model eliminates the risk of misunderstanding.

    I use my body to express different emotions but definitely not for the sake of self-admiration or narcissism. My body for me is just a medium, the same as my camera. Nobody can really know who I am and what I feel, because nobody can even say that he understands himself completely and can explain all his actions.

    All our lives we learn to understand ourselves. When I look at someone's artwork, It’s not important what the author wanted to say, what is important to me are the emotions his artwork awakens in me.

So I do not think that by using my body as a medium for my artworks I'm doing something reprehensible. Of course, if you remove from the artwork its emotional and underlying symbolic theme and highlight only the sexual aspect, then the artwork turns into an ordinary consumer product.
Of course, I photograph not only myself; I also photograph other people, trying to convey their souls, their feelings and their stories.

I am afraid that it is often very difficult to be yourself and live without a mask, because there is always someone whom you might offend by your individuality. I don’t understand why it’s so hard for people to accept the fact that someone might be different: having a different religion, skin color or sexual orientation. In fact, most of the problems that exist are invented by the people themselves. These are the prejudices and barriers that exist only in our heads, but if I tell this to anyone, he would most certainly be offended. It has always been like that and always will be so, but I do not want to accept that.

I don’t give names to my artworks, because I don’t want to impose my interpretation on the spectator.
For me it’s more important that, when looking at my artwork, people should concentrate on their own feelings and interpret what they saw. Having left the artwork without a name, I give it an opportunity to live its own life, which is limited only by the imagination of the spectator...”

The works of Anna are devoid of pathos and edification. They are like a soft whisper or a quiet melody which are possible to hear even amidst a most noisy crowd. That soft sound is full of strong feelings that penetrate your soul deeper than the loudest scream and remain in your soul for a very long time…

Other artworks by Anna Bodnar - www.annabodnar.eu

Reader Comments

5.	unknown Sep 15, 2010 06:40 <
4.	BSW-Art Aug 08, 2010 14:02 Thank you, Hugo!
3.	Hugo Romano Aug 08, 2010 13:56 A special journal work, I love the artist opinion because it clearly reflects the soul of Anna and her level as artist. I like about what Anna thinks regarding to her feelings and the way she use herself and her art vision to show emotions, those emotions that she experiences.<br/>This show me a good soul of Anna and the good taste for the art with a great wealth. Congratulations to this artist and BSW-ART for this interview.
2.	BSW-Art Aug 08, 2010 12:46 Thank you!
1.	mp3 Aug 08, 2010 11:32 Interesting and impressive works. <br/>Thanks.

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