Barbara Gruca-Łęgowska – Martwa Natura 2000 – Nature Morte

Trees can amaze us with their beauty whether they are alive or dead, but the photographer would much rather admire lush forests rather than piles of felled trunks.

This exhibition features a series wildlife photographs which have been taken in the forests of the Beskidy Mountains whose large parts are protected as Natura 2000 sites. The photographer follows mountain trails looking for inspiring and often surprising motifs for her work. Some of her photographs show destructive effects of human activity. Although Gruca-Łęgowska is able to see beauty in every aspect of the natural world, including a dead tree or rotten stump, she would much rather admire luxuriant woodlands than stacks of timber.

Barbara Gruca-Łęgowska, Bielsko-Biała, March 2019: 
The underlying idea behind this work is the devastation of the Beskidy forests, as some mountain trails have recently been turned into "MOTORWAYS"! On the pretext of removing windthrow, the forest management ordered cutting down healthy trees which turned narrow paths into deep and muddy ruts.
Mountain ridges have been stripped of trees.
I saw monumental timber piles in forest clearings and alongside the paths which made me think of pyramids. Stripped of bark, the trunks sparkle in the sun with silver and gold, while the sawn logs reveal fascinating patterns and different textures of fibres, growth rings and knots.
Whether living or dead, trees can amaze us with their beauty.
But I still prefer charming paths in lush forests to the MOTORWAYS with their roaring quads, cars and motorcycles, spewing out fumes all the way up to the refuge on the mountain top.
PROTECT THE BESKIDY, SAVE THE FOREST!

 
Barbara Guca-Łęgowska – born on September 3, 1941 in Lviv.
She studied at the Faculty of Painting and Graphic Arts of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków from 1962 to 1968 and obtained an honour's degree in graphic art and poster in 1968. She has been a member of the Association of Polish Visual Artists since 1968.
Her artistic career covers graphic design, utility graphics and poster.
In recent years, he has been increasingly focusing on photography. She is passionate about mountain hiking and observing the natural world.

The exhibition runs from 29 July to 28 August, 2019.
Vernissage: Cafe Club Aquarium,
Monday, 29 July, 6 pm.