For other payment options such as Revolut or BLIK, please contact me directly: agaluczakowska@gmail.com
Reviews
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A refined, small publication that captivates with its bittersweet atmosphere. The title Răsu’-plânsu’ is Romanian for “laughing through tears” — this duality resonates perfectly in the editorial design. The grey, raw cover contrasts with pink accents: an envelope, a letter inside, and a sticker inviting readers to submit photos that expand the project. The black-and-white photographs document Bucharest through the lens of the artist’s daily commute from home to work, a route she traveled for nearly a decade. Łuczakowska abandons the façade of the big city in favor of something more authentic and full of humor. This is brilliantly conveyed through sharp, witty juxtapositions of frames — such as monstrously bird-dropping-covered cars contrasted with the immaculate white of a whitewashed fruit tree trunk. The same white, completely different contexts. As Małgorzata Margo Rejmer aptly writes in the introductory text, this photographic Bucharest is deeply infused with a longing for the countryside. The legacy of Ceaușescu, who demolished old villas to make way for labyrinths of housing blocks, forced resettled residents into a brutal break from their former lives. The human need to domesticate concrete is visible in the photographs through small survival strategies — floral curtains, plant motifs on bags, or whimsical windows embedded into clumsy balconies. Rickety fences and the chaos of everyday urban life blend the sacred with the profane. Łuczakowska’s narrow, intimate frames not only depict the Romanian capital, but also become a universal mirror of our own existential dilemmas, desires, tears, and laughter.
Aleksandra Śliwczyńska-Kupidura, Kwartalnik Fotografia
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"When I was Director of Photography at National Geographic I often conducted workshops and spoke to groups of photographers. I often said that photography isn't about shooting pictures, it's about seeing. In the case of this book Aga's photography is about seeing and feeling the subject. Most photographers would approach the subject of the apartment blocks by showing the typical street scenes with the people living in the blocks. In Aga's photographs she has shown artifacts of the people, and in so doing have shown the people themselves. Having been to some of these areas in Bucharest, I've never seen them the way they are shown in Aga's book. She has a great eye, and true dedication to her work."
Kent Kobersteen, Director of Photography and Senior Editor at National Geographic magazine from February 1998 until January 2005
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"I loved the photographs. Chaotic, raw in black and white, yet also surreal and methodical. In a way they seem to dream of shapes that repeat and move. "
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"Sometimes you come across something or someone you didn't anticipate. I did that last year. Aga's images hit me even though I didn't ask for it. I therefore ordered the book she released (...). The book contains images of everyday life, more or less. There are millions of those kind of images. But Aga's images keep coming back. She has a certain way of seeing that intrigue and fascinate me. "