Agata Kozanecka
Born in Poland, Agata’s formative years were spent studying psychology at Warsaw University as an active member of the “Independent Student Union”, an organization working in parallel with the Solidarity Movement in socialist Poland (occupational strike 1981).
Since 1990, Agata has lived in Montreal, Canada, where she raised three children, and where she continues to be an active member of the Polish community as a translator and cultural animator.
Since 2001, she’s been an activist in the context of Polish-Jewish relations as an editor of a committee overlooking the publication of memoirs of Holocaust survivors. They aim to fight ignorance about the Holocaust and promote peace between communities that share a difficult past. Agata considers the preservation of memories and life stories as an important part of reconciliation.
In 2014, she joined the “Native Immigrant Collective”, where she continues her community engagement through photography, co-creating and participating in NI projects, and events including “Immigrant Dressmaking”, in which people of all heritages and backgrounds come together to build a symbolic dress as an artistic expression of cultural exchange.
In the years 2017-2021, Agata was the co-creator and co-owner of Atelier d’Art Meteque, a collaborative art space located in the NDG borough of Montreal.
Today she is also an active member of the Native Immigrant Art Collective
Art
I am a self-taught photographer. I have been interested in this medium for a very long time. I find it to be an incredibly satisfying and intuitive experience. I love to capture the hidden poetry of everyday life. I am intrigued by the decayed, the old, the unfinished, loose ends and by rugged surfaces. I cherish those rare moments of emotional exuberance when coming across the fading beauty juxtaposed with light and the elements.
I present my images in a mixed media context: paper, threads, fabrics, wood and metal.
