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Born 1st March 1996 (Nowy Sącz, Poland)
Website adrianwojtas.com

Adrian Wojtas is a photographer, art director, and filmmaker based in Ireland. He graduated with a BA (Hons) in Photography from IADT Dún Laoghaire in 2017.

Influenced by his bilingual and bicultural upbringing, much of his personal photographic work often deals with themes of ideology, culture, and identity. In his work, Adrian often makes use of carefully selected colour palettes which he utilizes in order to convey the tone and mood of the scene, and to elicit an emotional response in the viewer. In his social documentarian work, by highlighting often mundane daily life situations, he aims to present the viewer with a different view of reality. Seeking authenticity, he tries to give everyday things a new narrative.

Much of his practice is influenced by artist Olafur Eliasson for his immersive colour experience-based work, Sam Youkilis for his visually driven documentation of travel, and also Luigi Ghirri for his playful imagery in the liminal space between reality and fiction.

In 2017, Adrian moved towards filmmaking and has acted as director and cinematographer on two short films. Both films (a short film about filing / More Than This) explore themes of bureaucracy, memory, and isolation, and have received recognition at film festivals across Ireland and internationally.

He has recently been featured in and on the cover of The Photography Ideas Book, published by Tate, and his work has been widely featured both in exhibitions and film festivals throughout Europe. Most recently, he was selected as one of the winners of the 2020 Feature Shoot Emerging Photography Award among other awards. His photography work has been published in F-Stop Magazine, Colossal, Wired Italia and many others.

Publications

Photography books with contribution by Adrian Wojtas

  • 2020, Chromantic: A Tribute to Alex Webb
  • 2019, Tate: The Photography Ideas Book, Lorna Yabsley,  London: Ilex Press, 9781781576663 2

Awards and honours

  • 2020, Honorable Mention, Chromantic, Trieste Photo Days, Italy
  • 2020, 3rd Place – Conceptual, 10th Annual International Photography Competition, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, United States
  • 2020, Shortlist – 190th Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland
  • 2020, Winner, 2020 Feature Shoot Emerging Photography Awards, New York City, United States
  • 2019, Shortlist – 162nd International Photography Exhibition, The Royal Photographic Society, Bristol, United Kingdom
  • 2018, Winner – Best Experimental Film (‘More Than This’), Hyperfest International Student Film Festival, Bucharest, Romania
  • 2018, Official Selection (‘More Than This’), River Film Festival, Padova, Italy
  • 2017, Student Photographer of the Year, Irish Professional Photographers Association, Dublin, Ireland
  • 2017, Official Selection (‘More Than This’), Ekran, Toronto Polish Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
  • 2017, Official Selection (‘More Than This’), IndieCork Film Festival, Cork, Ireland
  • 2017, Official Selection (‘More Than This’), Kerry Film Festival, Killarney, Ireland
  • 2017, Official Selection (‘a short film about filing’), Early Bird International Student Film Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria
  • 2017, Winner – Best Fiction Film (‘a short film about filing’), Student Cuts International Student Film Festival, Maribor, Slovenia
  • 2017, Highly Commended (‘More Than This’), Inspirational Arts Photography Award, Dublin, Ireland
  • 2017, Longlisted Artist (‘More Than This’), RDS Visual Arts Awards, Dublin, Ireland
  • 2017, Official Selection (‘a short film about filing’), Berlin Student Film Festival, Berlin, Germany
  • 2016, Nominee – Short Film of The Year (‘a short film about filing’), National Student Media Awards (SMEDIAS), Dublin, Ireland
  • 2015, Highly Commended Finalist, Expressions, Longford Art Photography Portrait Competition & Exhibition, Longford, Ireland
  • 2015, Finalist – Open Category, Irish Times Amateur Photographer of the Year Awards, Dublin, Ireland
  • 2015, Student Photographer of the Year, National Photographic Awards, Irish Professional Photographers Association, Dublin, Ireland

Exhibitions

Group exhibitions

  • 2020, 139th Annual Exhibition, Royal Ulster Academy of Arts, Belfast, United Kingdom (Group) 2020, Together Apart, Nomel Arts, New York, United States (Group)
  • 2020, 10th Annual International Photography Competition, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Florida, USA (Group)
  • 2020, 100 Views of Contemporary Ireland, The Library Project, Dublin, Ireland (Group)
  • 2020, Feature Shoot Emerging Photography Awards, Aperture Gallery, New York, United States (Group)
  • 2019, About Future, Millepiani, Rome, Italy (Group)
  • 2019, Form 2019, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gimpo-si, South Korea (Group)
  • 2019, Interior, Planet Flow Gallery, Berlin, Germany (Group)
  • 2018, One Year Revolv, Safehouse 1, London, United Kingdom (Group)
  • 2018, Sights & Sounds: Ireland Today, Dupont Underground, Washington D.C., United States (Group) 2018, Peripheral Visions, PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary (Group)
  • 2017, RE:VIEW, The Complex, Dublin, Ireland (Group)
  • 2017, SPARKS International Student Cuts, FASS Art Gallery, Sabancı University, Istanbul, Turkey (Group)
  • 2017, Street Feasts, dlr LexIcon, Dún Laoghaire, Ireland (Group)
  • 2017, Social Inclusion Week, County Hall, Dún Laoghaire, Ireland (Group)
  • 2017, SURVEYOR, Solstice Arts Centre, Meath, Ireland (Group)
  • 2017, Graduate Exhibition, IADT Dún Laoghaire, Dublin, Ireland (Group)
  • 2016, Expressions, Backstage Theatre, Longford, Ireland (Group)
  • 2015, Expressions, Cruthú Arts Festival, Longford, Ireland (Group)
  • 2015, Ode to Crept, Steambox, Dublin, Ireland (Group)

Projects

  • Sonder (2015)
    Sonder (noun) – The realization that every random passer-by is living a life as vivid and complex as your own – a life with all the same ambition, anxiety, passion and vibrance – and a life in which you may appear just once, if only for a moment.
    Inspired by this definition, I created a series of images in the style of familiar snapshots, in which I play a background role in the everyday lives of strangers. 3

Works

  1. Tate: The Photography Ideas Book, Lorna Yabsley,  London: Ilex Press, 9781781576663 1 https://www.octopusbooks.co.uk/titles/lorna-yabsley/tate-the-photography-ideas-book/9781781576663/
  2. Sonder http://adrianwojtas.com/work/sonder