Visiting an art exhibition is always a bit of a gamble. Sometimes I leave wondering why nothing spoke to me. Other times, an exhibition catches me completely off guard. That was exactly how I felt during my visit to the Państwowa Galeria Sztuki in Sopot few weeks ago.
I hadn’t gone there expecting anything in particular, yet within minutes I found myself drawn to texture. Again and again, I stepped closer, fascinated by the way countless individual elements came together to create something entirely new. Before long, I had stopped looking at the works as a whole and started exploring their surfaces, discovering details that completely changed the way I saw them.
I found myself wondering how each piece had come to life. How many hours had gone into repeating the same gesture? How many individual elements had been shaped, assembled and carefully placed before becoming part of something much larger? The more I looked, the more I appreciated the extraordinary patience behind every work.
As a photographer, I soon realised I was no longer documenting the exhibition. My camera kept drifting towards the details, the roughness of clay, the rhythm of woven fibres, the contrast between smooth and jagged surfaces, and the way light revealed textures that were almost invisible from a distance. Every step closer uncovered something I hadn’t noticed before.
By the time I left the gallery, I wasn’t thinking about individual sculptures or trying to remember the curators’ descriptions. What stayed with me was the pleasure of slowing down and simply looking.
