Joanna Szpak-Ostachowska (1976, Warsaw, Poland) is a visual artist, photographer, photography teacher, and mentor. She graduated in Polish Studies and Cultural Animation from the University of Warsaw and completed the Sputnik Photos Mentoring Program (2019/2020). Member of the women’s collective DJAM. In her artistic practice, she focuses on themes of time, loss, intimacy, femininity, and the material traces of emotions. As she says herself: “In photography, I am interested in slowness and transience.” Plants are the central protagonists in her painterly photographic cycles. She works primarily with photography, but also draws on archives, text, and objects. She conducts her own photography workshops, lectures, and guided walks. Her works are held in private collections as well as in the public collection of the Museum of Warsaw. She is an active gardener and finds many similarities in her gardening practice to creative activities. She lives and works in Warsaw.

instagram: @joanna_szpak_ostachowska