Martyna Benedyka (1991) is a visual and sound artist, painter, photographer, coloratura soprano, and teacher. Working in a wide range of media including painting, photography, collage, site-specific installation, video, field recording, and sound art, she focuses on various concepts of existence, memory, and beauty, always looking behind what is seen.
She studied Art and Design at the Gray’s School of Art in Scotland, UK and graduated with a First Class BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art Painting in 2014. She has exhibited in the UK, Italy, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Poland, Czechia, Romania, Estonia, South Korea, Switzerland, Australia, Canada and the USA.
Her work has been chosen by the Federation of British Artists for the Futures - UK’s largest annual survey of emerging contemporary figurative art at the Mall Galleries, London, among others. She is a member of Futures Photography, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (winner 2022). She specializes in early and classical music.
@martyna_benedyka
www.martynabenedyka.com
Artist Statement
I began the KINTSUGI project (2021) while I was healing from a string of traumatic experiences including the loss of two body organs. It was centered on the dialogue between the body and the soul and the search for resilience. In 2023, I created a photobook under the same title.
THE PAINFUL THINGS is a parallel narrative that continues the project by adding the pandemic periods and my own experience of going through the COVID-19 after my surgeries. It describes how things, like my body, can trigger memories and feelings from the past as well as the present.
THE PAINFUL THINGS evokes both material and spiritual sensations, mapping the body to create new representations of my inner world.
Like sutures and scars, the embroidery serves as my personal topography that stitches the intimate objects and spaces together.
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage.
After my recent surgeries, I thought of the concept of kintsugi as a perfect technique to mend my body and soul and overcome the feeling of loss. This work allowed me to accept my precious scars which I was left with and treat each of them as a unique break that soon would be filled.
The images correspond with each other in a similar way to our body and being. It is a never-ending conversation: light – dark, day – night, shapes, lines, dots and spots, deep breaths, in and out, like the curtain and the wind.
Revolving around the topic of the human body and mind, KINTSUGI is a black and white photography journey through the process of healing and searching for the essence of resilience.
The Painful Things
Nociceptive Pain, Photograph, 2024