Joanna Piotrowska on show at Tate Britain

Born in Poland in 1985 and based in London, Joanna Piotrowska has had a stellar career so far. Studying photography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and then on the prestigious MA at London’s Royal College of Art, she won MACK’s First Book Award in 2014 with FROWST, and then the Photoworks & Jerwood Award in 2015. She’s already shown her work at the Winterthur Fotomuseum, Switzerland, MoMA in New York, Hayward Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Arts and Sadie Coles in London, and now her first solo show has opened at Tate Britain.

Titled All Our False Devices, the exhibition includes both still photographs and 16mm films to consider gestures, relationships, and power. The series Self Defense, 2015 shows young women re-enacting poses from self-defence manuals, for example, while Shelters, 2016-2018 shows makeshift structures Piotrowska invited people to build at home in Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, Warsaw, and London.

https://joannapiotrowska.com All Our False Devices is on show until 09 June, at Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG. Entry the show is free www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain

Untitled 2015. Originally commissioned through the Jerwood and Photoworks Awards 2015 © Joanna Piotrowska
Untitled 2016, courtesy of Madragoa and Southard Reid © Joanna Piotrowska
Untitled 2016, courtesy of Madragoa and Southard Reid © Joanna Piotrowska
Untitled 2017, courtesy of Dawid Radziszewki © Joanna Piotrowska
Untitled 2016, courtesy of Madragoa and Southard Reid © Joanna Piotrowska
Untitled 2017, courtesy of Dawid Radziszewki © Joanna Piotrowska
Untitled 2014, courtesy of Southard Reid and Dawid Radziszewski © Joanna Piotrowska
Diane Smyth

Diane Smyth is the editor of BJP, returning for a second stint on staff in 2023 - after 15 years on the team until 2019. As a freelancer, she has written for The Guardian, FT Weekend Magazine, Creative Review, Aperture, FOAM, Aesthetica and Apollo. She has also curated exhibitions for institutions such as The Photographers Gallery and Lianzhou Foto Festival. You can follow her on instagram @dismy