Szewska

Print (MA)

Up On The Roof, 2024, Hexaptych, screenprint, 120cm x 240cm Observing the dramatic impact sunlight had, when moving over London’s buildings, inspired me to create 'Up On The Roof'. The use of colour and shape evoke natural elements, while torn paper processes give life and reflect a reluctance for static forms. The interplay of shadows in unnatural settings was seen as a metaphor for the conflict of city life, with nature enduring, despite environmental challenges. The sense of temporality and dreaminess in the prints, is a reimagining of the city, contrasting with its concrete image.

Up On The Roof. 2024 Cast Acrylic, Acetate, light 70 x 50x 50 cms. This work challenged the traditional notion of print by using phased, changeable light projections, to create and cast colourful images on surrounding walls, celebrating the city’s ever-changing, evolving nature.

Black Hole, 2024 Letterpress and Screenprint, Hexaptych 59 x 510cm. This work depicts how a perpetrator’s violent behaviours are obscured, while the blame is visibly shifted onto others. Is that an exclamation mark at the end or a hand holding an implement? The work's size and colour intensify its message, reinforcing the sense of overpowering manipulation and blame.

Step In Time, 2023. Hexaptych etching, 17cm x 126cm. Inspired by the distorted imagery in Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin, ‘Step In Time’. Uses a flight of steps to narrate the escalation of the war in Ukraine. The different etching techniques aim to convey the increasing tension and violence in war.

About

Szewska’s work is about life, change and temporality. Fascinated by how sunlight, shadow, and movement alter the world around her, she delves into imagery through mixed media, animation, and a variety of printmaking processes. Focusing on the contemporary field of expanded print, she challenges notions of spatiality, materiality, and transference, prompting viewers to question whether an image needs to be physically present or can extend beyond its immediate space.

Often starting from challenging subject matter, Szewska does not aim to mirror difficulty, but seeks to find solutions, reflecting hope and optimism. Her work acknowledges life’s transient nature, aiming to highlight that change and improvement are possible. Shadows, which for some can be dark and intimidating, in her work aim to enhance and uplift, as seen in her series of works celebrating the potential and beauty of the heavily built city environment.

Her research on new printmaking strategies includes questioning expansion, distortion, and the boundaries of the physical frame, whilst she investigates materiality, spatiality, projection, and the transference of images.

In her recent work, ‘Up on the Roof’ Szewska seeks to push the boundaries of print, examining if animation and projection processes can transform and transcend traditional limits. Her work aims to celebrate where difficulty turns into joy, presenting life’s experiences as moments in time. She is deeply interested in how audiences engage with, and alter, the artwork. Ultimately, her goal is to explore how to blend formal print techniques with installation and experiential art and whether art can evolve beyond its physical form, reflecting the fluid nature of change and human perception.

Video link ‘Up On The Roof ‘ installation with animation

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