“The eyes are organs of asking.”
Since my early childhood, growing up in communist Poland, the world outside as seen through my living room window, of broken trees and cobblestone, snowball fights and crowded bus stops, presented itself with contradictions and the heavy mysterious fog of lives that generations lived through. Studying science brought only temporary contentment, for even the most remarkable mathematical formulas and scientific discoveries seemed feeble and to no avail. The window of my classroom unveiled the dark and cold streets filled with the long processions of weeping faithfuls.
Leaving Europe and settling in the US brought about a disillusion and intensified my unrest about the world order. What is real? There must be something else lurking underneath the layer of complacent reality, I thought. Perhaps another dimension of reality exists, the invisible in the midst of the mockery of “the real world”.
My long studies in Art history brought more questions but they also let me see beyond the pain and the ignorance of the world. Suddenly, amongst the marching masses doomed to fit into a predestined design my eyes were able to recognize, if only among a few, a divine-like spirit transcending through.I have been taking photographs for long time, yet it has been only a few years since I became seriously engaged and fully aware that this is what I want to do.
When looking through a viewfinder for the desirable shapes, lines, colors and movements I’m always trying to capture what’s beyond the ordinary. No longer I look for answers, for no answer will be ever complete and true. I observe the outer world and I ask. The longer I look the more I see and the more questions arise. I want for the viewer of my photographs to look and to ask questions. For me the photographic process is a mystery for in the end it is a search for something that does not exist. This approach strongly follows my belief in ephemerality, existentialism and humanism.“There is no final photograph”
I hope that the photographs presented on this site, will become just the beginning of my passionate quest.
Tomasz Karwowski
Portland, OR
USA
Contact: tomekkarwoski@gmail.com
tel# 971 544 1857