A CORNER OF HOME

Dominik Wojciechowski

Published 27 May, 2020

In the days that have passed and the days that are to come, we'll all be spending more time indoors. A Corner of Home collects photographic studies and new works made by artists in their immediate environments; small snapshots of the impulse to create.

Edited by George King.

1. Where are you living at the moment and how has that environment shaped you creatively? Can you tell us about a favourite detail of this place and why?

Dominik Wojciechowski: During this lockdown period, I’ve been living with my mum in Poznan, Poland. I’m trying my best to make the most out of the situation we’re in: finding more space for those things I didn't always create time for, like watching movies or reading books and magazines.

In my case, thinking about isolation and domestic spaces – like the one where I grew up – were already key sources of inspiration for my work before being confined here. My most recent project, The Castle, is about my mother’s relationship with her home after she separated from my father, who moved out in 2016. In the years since, I saw my mum slowly regain ownership of the space, making it hers again, but never fully: many of my father’s possessions – like his clothes and antiques – can still be found around the house.

This project, which was due to be shown at this year’s edition of Krakow Photomonth, is about control, and the lack of control that my mum had as a result of the intricacies of her relationship. Ultimately, the process of making the work was also significant – it proved to be an important step in mediating, and moving on from, the conflict with my father.

2. How have you looked at the materials of home differently in the past weeks? Are there parts of it that have revealed themselves to you in new ways?

In the past, I think I was often looking further afield for inspiration, or for a great topic, but having now made work about my home and about my family history, I’m more conscious of the opportunities on my own doorstep. The title of my project occurred to me through exploring my own space, where it’s easy to feel trapped at times: a castle speaks as much to notions of safety and defence as it does to the idea of confinement.

In making this work, objects around the house took on new meaning for me. I used various everyday items, associated with different emotions, to form a collection of temporary sculptures, which feature in my images. Of course, the associations and metaphors that this process turns up don’t go away when the project is concluded. I continue to live with the objects, which in turn has made me more aware of the space I inhabit. This new way of approaching my surroundings has definitely become a key focal point for my practice, and I plan to experiment more with it going forward.

3. Tell us about how you’ve been using photography lately? What are you making or putting in front of the lens?

My latest work has also encouraged me to further explore the idea of the human body as sculpture, whilst I’ve also become interested in the idea of integrating self-defence techniques within future projects. Other than that, being forced to stay at home has also given me some time to return for a moment to my family archives, searching for new contexts within them.

A Corner of Home is a project by Trine Stephensen and Joanna Cresswell.