Conceptual nominee

Suspended between presence and disappearance, this image captures a fragile remnant of life — a silent imprint on the surface of existence. Rendered in stark monochrome, the photograph transforms decay into abstraction, turning loss into form and gesture. The contours of feathers and bones dissolve into a quiet constellation of light and shadow, evoking both fragility and transcendence.

“The Weight of Silence” is not a document of death but a meditation on impermanence. It reflects on the delicate threshold where the organic meets the infinite — where the physical world fades into memory, and beauty persists in the act of seeing. Through stillness, it speaks of time, vulnerability, and the haunting grace of what remains.

Katarzyna Oliwia Serkowska
Visual artist and photographer. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. She earned her master's degree with distinction in 2021 in the Studio of Transdisciplinary Actions at the Faculty of Sculpture and Intermedia. Winner of the Best Diploma Works of Polish Art Academies competition (2021/2022). She is a member of the UL Gallery and, since 2024, has been working at the Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art in Gdańsk.
Her works engage in a critical analysis of the humans/nature intersections in the context of the care for the environment, and on how technology impacts individual body and identity. Serkowska uses her media in a contemplative way, exploring the boundaries of perception and memory. She reflects on human transience and expresses emotions inspired by confrontation with death. She creates uniquely meditative artistic photography, installations, photo-objects in which organic forms collide with code and structure creating post-artistic spaces. She also works with new media, bio art and generative art.