Ursula Sokolowska

(Polish, b. 1979; resides in Chicago, IL)

This work examines the trauma and uncertainty carried from childhood. In particular, I am referencing my own upbringing as a Polish immigrant. —Ursula Sokolowska

Unsettling and dreamlike, Ursula Sokolowska’s The Constructed Family series uses projections and cloth mannequins to recreate a troubled childhood. In her pictures children wander unprotected in dark and deserted places, disheveled or otherwise unstable adults confront the camera. The figures represent the artist and her family members, their glowing faces projected from slides made either from old family photographs or else shot recently by Sokolowska herself.

Ursula Sokolowska was born in Krakow, Poland. She holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, receivedCAAP Grants in 2003 and 2005, and has work in the collections of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, and Tanqueray, New York. Solo exhibitions of her work include Projections and Portraits at PhotoMedia Center in Erie, PA, andThe Constructed Family (2006) and Ursula Sokolowska (2004) at Schneider Gallery in Chicago.