Bartosz Matenko - (b. 1987, Szczecin). He specialises in documentary photography and reportage. Studying photography at the National Film School in Łódź. Graduate of Polish philology at the University of Szczecin. He is also an adept of culture animator course. Bartosz participated in street photography workshop with Bruce Gilden from Magnum. He experiments with collage, rayograms, video, paintings and fake polaroids. His works have been exhibited in Poland, Germany, Portugal, Lithuania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Israel.
Artist Statement:
I am not a press photographer. I feel more as a narrator, writer, who instead of holding a pen uses his camera. Instead of sketching in a notebook I use Tumblr, instead of writing books I post on my blog, insted of creating volumes of poetry I make artbooks. To better understand the rules of storytelling I studied Polish literature. To learn how to frame the world I studied cinematography. To see all the shades of black and white, I learned painting. However the best lesson was simple observation of life on the streets and stories of people I met by talking to homeless, friends or random people on the subway. I try to discover unreality in reality. I document nuances of the world and show its magic. Oftern it's something we wouldn't like to see or our eyesight is too limited to notice. The situations and people I meet fascinate me and I want to share them with others, regardless if it happens in Szczecin, New York or Johannesburg.
