Joanna Piotrowska’s uncomfortable album, a series of staged family shots, insists upon the fundamental anxiety at the heart of the family: its system of relationships, adamantine bonds that are equally oppressive and rewarding. Her images display intimate family scenes – cosily paired bodies, meeting and converging, in images which teeter on the verge of a dysfunctional moment. In one snapshot, two adult brothers lie together on a Persian carpet wearing only white briefs; in another, the black-clothed bodies of two embracing women merge, suggesting the atavistic overlap of mother and daughter. The title itself, which denotes a warm or stuffy atmosphere, captures the paradoxical nature of the family: frowsty spaces are both cosy and claustrophobic, intimate and airless.

The images are carefully staged: Piotrowska asked her family subjects to pose in almost sculptural gestures, re-enacting moments of intimacy – repeating spontaneous instants of tenderness, in performances which are imbued with a plethora of new meanings. Influenced by the philosophy of the German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger, Piotrowska integrated movements and gestures from Hellinger’s therapeutic method Family Constellations, which attempts to expose and heal multi-generational trauma. Her black-and-white images, intentionally nostalgic for lost moment of happiness, are shrewd observations of the tension of self that pervades every family dynamic.

Joanna Piotrowska is a Polish photographer recently completed her MA at Royal College of Art, London. She has exhibited her work internationally in Ireland, Spain, Poland, Russia, France, Latvia and in the UK. Works from FROWST have been included in Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2013, and in the exhibition ‘Jerwood Encounters: Family Politics’, curated by Photoworks.

More information

2014 Shortlist

Judges

Michael Mack
Michael has 20 years of art publishing experience as the managing director of Steidl and publisher of MACK. In 2011 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Plymouth for his contribution to art publishing.

Greg Hobson
Curator of Photographs at the National Media Museum, Bradford, Greg Hobson leads the Museum's curatorial team in the conception and content delivery of its curatorial programme of exhibitions, displays and associated events.

Polly Fleury
Polly Fleury is Director of Special Projects at the Wilson Centre for Photography where she works closely with museums, artists, galleries and publishers bringing historical and contemporary photography to public view.

Ben Burbridge
Ben Burbridge is co-editor of Photoworks magazine, and Lecturer in Art History at University of Sussex. He is involved with commissioning and production of a wide range of photographic projects, publications and exhibitions. Recently curated exhibitions include the 2012 Brighton Photo Biennial, Agents of Change: Photography and the Politics of Space, and The Daily Nice Take Away (Essen, 2010). He is currently working on an exhibition examining the 'traffic' of early scientific photography, to be shown at Media Space in 2015.

Fiona Rogers
Fiona Rogers has worked at Magnum Photos since 2005, where she oversees the origination and touring of Magnum’s global exhibitions, as well as the representation of Magnum’s photographers in the commercial print sale market. In early 2011, she created Firecracker, a platform supporting European women photographers through web activity, networking and events. In June 2012, Firecracker launched its inaugural Photographic Grant, announcing the first recipient in September 2012. She has participated in reviews at Rencontres D'Arles, Format Festival and Singapore International Photography Festival and judged photography awards including The Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography, the Brighton Photofringe open call and the IdeasTap Photographic Award.