The
Artist
Artur Pławski
Lives and Works in
Poland
Artur Pławski is a photographer with a late debut. A graduate of Philosophy at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, he participated in the Sputnik Photos Mentoring Program for photographers. He works in the field of documentary photography, drawing on the critical potential of imagination and subjective forms of meaning-making.
In his work, he focuses on moments when facts lose their apparent obviousness, the image reveals its subjective nature, and emerging meanings point to a broader contextual framework. He explores the relationship between the individual and urban space, as well as the influence of ideology and language on perception. He is particularly interested in images that resist closure.
Artur is the winner of the Photography Publication of the Year Award (Poland, 2023) and received an honourable mention at the PhMuseum Photobook Award 2025.
Projects
2025
Masculine Gender
"The impulse to create this series came from a fleeting impression I remembered from my teenage years: on a vast, empty square of a concrete housing estate, I passed an unknown man. When our gazes crossed, I realized that I truly knew nothing about masculinity. The nature of the space and the content of that impression were, as I now believe, mutually conditioned. To this day, I do not know what this widespread state of bewilderment is, nor the uncertainty with which men themselves define their own identity.
In the place where I live, a deeper debate on heteronormative masculinity is only just beginning. The burden of the oppressive consequences that patriarchy has imposed on culture does not encourage reflection on the obvious fact that these consequences also affect the majority of men. The oppressiveness of male value systems permeates the space around us, shapes our everyday gestures, and leaves its mark in subtle ways within established law.
Despite my personal disagreement with this state of affairs, and without rancor or recourse to ideology, I carried out a private experiment—testing how attentively I am able to register moments in which, in space or in the male figures I encounter, I sense a source of pain and oppression similar to my own. I wanted to remain as open as possible to the complexity of the phenomenon and, through images, to stay in contact with intuition". [Artur Pławski]
Artur Pławski
was nominated by
Fotofestiwal Lodz
in
Show all projects
Each year every member of the FUTURES European Photography Platform nominates a set of artists and projects to become part of the FUTURES network.
Related artists
More artists that you might
like to explore
All artistslike to explore
Ondřej Kubeš (* 1999) is a Czech visual artist working primarily with documentary and staged photography, installation, drawing and performance. His intimate, poetic archive-based artworks examine topics of personal memory, identity, affection, trauma, queerness and family relations. Kubeš’s work has been exhibited in the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Belgium. He completed his master's degree at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague at the Photography II. studio led by Alena Kotzmannová.
Mateusz Pecyna is a Polish visual artist working with installation, moving image, objects and sound. His practice explores how technological systems and environmental stress reshape contemporary culture, especially through regimes of visibility, interfaces and synthetic forms of nature. Rather than treating technology as a neutral tool, he approaches it as a cultural agent: something that produces aesthetics, behaviours and power relations. Combining research with speculative narration, he builds layered situations that test the boundaries between documentary evidence and constructed scenarios.
Pecyna holds an MA in Photography and Multimedia from the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, Poland. He has presented work widely in solo and group exhibitions in Poland and internationally, across museums and festival contexts. He currently participates in the international Heritage Lens programme, focusing on how climate change and environmental catastrophe reorganise cultural heritage, public imaginaries and the conditions of living. He was awarded the Artistic Scholarship of the City of Łódź (2025).
Irish artist, Miriam O’Connor lives and works in Cork. She holds a BA in photography from Dublin Institute of Technology, and completed a Research Masters at the Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dun Laoghaire in 2011. Drawing inspiration from the language, sights and sounds of the everyday, O’Connor’s practice frequently engages with matters which reflect her everyday surroundings, as well as her day-to-day experiences of being a photographer. Her projects have explored themes around looking and seeing; the relationship between camera and subject; the circulation and consumption of images and the complex nature of photographic representation.Her work has been exhibited and distributed extensively, with features in magazines and publications including; Camera Austria, Source Photographic Review, The New York Times and The Guardian. Recent solo shows include Sternview Gallery, Cork, Galleri Image, Denmark, The Third Space Gallery, Belfast and during ‘THERE THERE’ festival, Cork curated by Stag & Deer. In 2012, she received the Alliance Française Photography Award, which included a residency at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris. She was the recipient of the Emerging Irish Artist Residency Award [EIARA] in 2015 which included a month-long residency at Burren College of Art, Co. Clare. Publications include, ‘Attention Seekers’ (2012) ‘The Legacy Project’ (2013) and ‘Tomorrow is Sunday’ (2017). She was one of the selected artists for Greetings from Ireland (2015) and New Irish Works I & II (2013, 2016). In conjunction with Galleri Image, Denmark, she recently produced new work for FRESH EYES - International artists rethink Aarhus, which was exhibited during Aarhus Capital of Culture, 2017.
Camille Poitevin (b. Montreal, Canada, 1996) is a french multidisciplinary artist based in Brussels. Installation plays a central role in her practice : drawing from lens-based media, sculpture, sound, and performance, she creates time for introspection in a fast-paced society. In doing so, she aims to challenge social norms, unfreezing preconceived ideas in human interactions, social roles, and personal identity.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Arts from Concordia University in Montreal (2018) and a Master’s degree in Visual Arts (Photography) from ENSAV La Cambre in Brussels (2022). During her master’s studies, she was awarded a creation grant from the King Baudouin Foundation as well as the Servix Prize. Her work has been presented in Belgium (FOMU, Musée Botanique, Beursschouwburg, BPS22, Hangar Art Center, Ateliers Mommen, HISK Gosset site, CAL Charleroi), the Netherlands (De Brakke Grond, Marres Huis voor Hedendaagse Cultuur), France (FRAC Franche-Comté), and Italy (Fondazione Sant’Elia). In 2025, she takes part in the group exhibition Art au Centre in Liège, as well as in the .TIFF Emerging Belgian Photography program presented at FOMU and later at De Brakke Grond, within which she was selected for the European FUTURES Photography platform. That same year, she participates in Art Contest at the Musée Botanique, where she receives the Collectors’ Prize. She lives and works in Brussels and develops her practice within the collective studio Koekelhouse (Young European Artists).
Daria is a lens-based artist currently living and working between Kyiv and Paris. Originally from Odesa, Ukraine, Daria came to France to pursue an M.A. in Photography & Video at École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs of Paris, graduating in 2023.
In her artistic practice, Daria explores the connections between past and present, focusing primarily on the youth and cultural, social and political contexts in which young people live.
Her work was exhibited across Europe and the U.S., including La Villette (Paris), Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool), Hangar (Brussels), Mystetskiy Arsenal (Kyiv), The Gallery at Dobbin Mews (New York). Daria is a finalist of the 39th Hyères festival (2024), Palm* Phot Prize (2022) and a recipient of Beyond the silence grant by Magnum Photos & Odesa Photo Days (2024), as well as a grant for contemporary documentary photography from CNAP.
Andrea Camiolo (Leonforte, 1998) is an Italian photographer and editor, currently a PhD candidate in "Science for Artistic Production and Heritage" at the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania.
In 2022 he was selected as one of the finalists of Paris Photo Carte Blanche, won the Comisso Prize and the Best Portfolio Prize at the Ragusa Foto Festival.
In 2023 he was selected as one of the finalists for the Luigi Ghirri Prize/Young Italian Photography #10, he was a finalist for the Terna Prize and lastly one of the winners of the ‘Italy is a Desire’ call for new works promoted by Direzione Generale Creatività Contemporanea (DGCC) of the Ministry of Culture.
Andrea has exhibited his projects in several group exhibitions at various institutions, including:
MUFOCO Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea; Palazzo Binelli, Carrara; Casa Testori, Milan; MIA Photo Fair, Milan; Fotografia Europea, Reggio Emilia; CAMERA Centro Italiano per la Fotografia, Turin; Palazzo Cosentini, Ragusa; Photo Open Up, Padua; Palazzo Giacomelli, Treviso; Verzasca Foto Festival.
His works have been acquired in the collection of MUFOCO - Museo Fotografia Contemporanea in Cinisello Balsamo and in private collections.
He is co-founder of DORSOPRESS, a small independent publishing house focused in contemporary photography.
Chloé Azzopardi is a French transdisciplinary artist living on an island on the
outskirts of Paris.
Her research revolves around ecology, new technologies and the construction of post-capitalocene imaginaries. She was an artist-in-residence at Villa Pérochon under the mentorship of Joan Fontcuberta. In 2025, she began a residency in regenerative design at Fondation Martell. Her work has been presented internationally in numerous festivals, galleries, and museums like Paris Photo, Rencontres d’Arles and Photo Élysée.
In 2024, she was invited by Sigma to present a large-scale exhibition combining multiple projects in Aranya and Shanghai. In 2027, she will present a solo exhibition at the Braunschweig Museum für Photographie. Supported by Fondation des Artistes for her project Tigre jaune sur fond bleu (2025), Azzopardi has received several awards and grants, including the CNAP support for contemporary documentary photography (2025).
Her first book, Non Technological Devices, will be published by Witty Books in 2026.
Her research revolves around ecology, new technologies and the construction of post-capitalocene imaginaries. She was an artist-in-residence at Villa Pérochon under the mentorship of Joan Fontcuberta. In 2025, she began a residency in regenerative design at Fondation Martell. Her work has been presented internationally in numerous festivals, galleries, and museums like Paris Photo, Rencontres d’Arles and Photo Élysée.
In 2024, she was invited by Sigma to present a large-scale exhibition combining multiple projects in Aranya and Shanghai. In 2027, she will present a solo exhibition at the Braunschweig Museum für Photographie. Supported by Fondation des Artistes for her project Tigre jaune sur fond bleu (2025), Azzopardi has received several awards and grants, including the CNAP support for contemporary documentary photography (2025).
Her first book, Non Technological Devices, will be published by Witty Books in 2026.
Jéssica Pereira Gaspar is a Portuguese transdisciplinary artist, born in Coimbra in 1996. She began her academic journey in sciences and technologies, which profoundly influenced her methodology, research focus, and creative practice. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Visual Arts from Universidade Lusófona de Lisboa and her Master's degree in Visual Arts from Escola Superior de Artes e Design das Caldas da Rainha.Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in Science and Technology of the Arts at the Catholic University of Porto, where she is developing research on interfaces for interspecies communication and artistic co-creation with different organisms.Her practice centers on interactions with other-than-human entities and their dynamic agency, seeking to unravel the intricate relationships between living organisms and matter. By integrating multiple mediums such as image, video, sound, and organic materials as catalysts for immersive experiences, her work creates a space for reflection on the interconnectedness of all entities. In 2022, she was awarded a scholarship for an art residency at RAMA, where she developed the solo exhibition Spectacular Instability. She also participated in Zonas deTransição (2023), a project by the PLMJ Foundation, showcasing Transmutations II, a piece later included in the foundation's collection. Her work has been featured in group exhibitions such as A Certain Practice of Attention (2023) and the XXII Biennial of Cerveira (2022). In 2024, her work was included in the Portuguese Emerging Art book, the Millennium BCP Young Art Award from which she was awarded the Portuguese Serigraphy Center Award.In 2025, she was one of the five artists to be selected to represent Porto and Ci.clo Platform in Futures Photography Festival of 2025.
Viacheslav Poliakov is a visual artist, photographer, graphic designer. He was born in 1986 in Kherson, Ukraine. Obtained a master’s degree in art education from Kherson State University. Now based in Lviv, Ukraine.
His art practice exists on the intersection of documentary photography and design. He's interested in objects and spaces made by people, the historic background behind the urban landscape.
Viacheslav is a finalist of Foam Talents, Vienna Photobook Festival, Circulations, Krakow Photomonth Showoff, Fotofestival Lodz Grand Prix, Prix Levallois. His works were published in the Foam Magazine, The British Journal of Photography, GUP magazine, Lensculture, The Washington Post.
Graduated in Political Science and Urban Sociology, his work unfolds in territories left, maintained or deliberately built on the fringes of our cities. He takes them on over a long period of time and draws up a personal cartography, walking a fine line between documentary and fine art photography. He attaches particular importance to form, colour and material, which serve as points of encounter with his mental universe. In this way, he constructs a visual language that is both frontal and polysemous, offering a singular vision in which human frailties are transfigured by new lines of force. His work is regularly exhibited at festivals in France and abroad, like Athens Photo Festival, Tbilisi Photo Festival, Les Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles or Circulation(s). He was awarded the Maison Blanche Prize in 2021.
Related professionals
Other professionals that might be interesting
All professionals
Descriptiondd112333
Salvatore Vitale (b. 1986, Palermo, Italy) is a Swiss-based artist, director, and professor whose work explores the complexity of contemporary societies. Using expanded and speculative storytelling through mixed media techniques, he focuses on the politics of systems that regulate modernity and the impact of technological transformations.
Vitale is the Artistic Director of EXPOSED Torino Foto Festival and FUTURES Photography, both international platforms dedicated to contemporary photography. He also serves as a Professor at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, where he leads the Transmedia Storytelling Programme. Previously, he was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of YET magazine, an international photography publication.
Vitale’s work has received international awards. It is featured in several public and private collections and has been widely exhibited in museums and at festivals worldwide.
Ángel Luis González Fernández is a designer, artist, and curator supporting engaging visual arts practices, winner of Business to Arts David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Awards 2011.
His work manifests through PhotoIreland, which he founded in 2010 to stimulate a critical dialogue on Photography. He devises curatorial projects placing conversations in the public realm around visual culture, critical thinking. These include events (PhotoIreland Festival, Halftone Print Fair, arts residency How to Flatten a Mountain, and New Irish Works), a cultural hub (The Library Project: Ireland’s Art bookshop, host to a unique resource library of photobooks and a productive arts programme), publishing projects that distribute inexpensive access to local practices, research projects (Critical Academy: examining contemporary art practices). He works collaboratively with a growing network of organisations, noticeably through ambitious Creative Europe partnerships.
During the Summer 2020 lockdown he launched the critical publication OVER Journal, now distributed globally. He received the Arts Council of Ireland’s Visual Arts Bursary to deepen research on the broad historical and specific artistic context of Photography in Ireland, to curate an ambitious survey exhibition in PhotoIreland Festival 2022 and to publish a series of publications on the matter. He regularly contributes to publications such as the forthcoming The Routledge Companion to Global Photographies, edited by Lucy Soutter, Duncan Wooldridge.
See some of his Graphic and Web Design work in the 100 Design Archive.
Iveta Gabaliņa (1979) is a curator, artist and educator. She has studied photography at the studio of Andrejs Grants, at Bournemouth Art Institute, and in the MA programme at Alto University in Helsinki. Her work has been exhibited in Latvia and internationally, including at C/O (Berlin, Germany), GESTE (Paris), and Williams Tower Gallery (Houston, USA). Gabaliņa has participated in photography festivals in Singapore, Hanover, and elsewhere. Her work is included in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, Geste Paris, and the Deutsche Börse Art Collection.
Since 2008 she has been part of ISSP team, responsible for numerous educational and curatorial projects. In 2018 she founded ISSP Gallery - an exhibition space dedicated to contemporary photography.
I’ve always loved photography, even if it sounds like a cliche. The first photos I took, I did without knowing how to do that, without paying any attention to framing, subject or composition. After a while, I began to understand what is happening in the space between me as a photographer and the subject I was photographing. And many years later, I also understood why I love to photograph. To communicate. A message, a concept, an emotion.
Newsletter
Want to stay up to date with the latest news and events of FUTURES?
Each month we share articles and interviews, upcoming Open Studios and educational opportunities.
By signing up, you'll join our community of artists and professionals committed to contemporary photography.
By signing up, you'll join our community of artists and professionals committed to contemporary photography.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.