Basia Budniak (b. 1982), [UP] from the Black Heart series; 2020.

Photograph, 10 x 8 framed 29 x 23 cm
Signed on the back: Black Heart UP, 2020/ Basia Budniak 6/50

Photographer and filmmaker. Studied Polish philology at Jagiellonian University, photography at the University of Arts in Poznan and PWSFTviT in Lodz. She lives and works in Cracow. In her works, she uses traditional photographic techniques, focusing on the performative nature of the photographic image, its use and function.

"Black Heart" is a light-sensitive, multi-camera intervention installation. It is a Camera-heart, called up in this shape from cans received from artists. It refers to the emotions we faced during the pandemic, although in fact each can is a different personal story.
"I reach for solarigraphy in this work (a technique developed by Diego Lopez Calvin, Slawomir Decyk and Pawel Kula, who initiated the "Solaris" project in the early 2000s) and expose the Heart to the greatest element, which is the Sun. Creating and burning at the same time. The light sensitivity of the hidden material inside each can is the matter of the process that takes place in us. Solarigraphy, however, is a never-ending process of image constitution, the resulting images are constantly being processed. Like our emotions.
The black heart was hung on the 4th of July 2020 and taken down on the 17th of December 2020. It was exposed for 3984 hours, 166 solar days, 6 lunar cycles."