12th “W Ramach Sopotu” Photography Festival
This September, Sopot will once again become a hub of photography and a showcase for works by some of the biggest names behind the lens. The upcoming, twelfth edition of the international “W Ramach Sopotu” Photography Festival began on 3 September and will run until 20 September under the theme “Border”. This year’s edition will offer a multidimensional exploration of barriers – physical, cultural and purely visual.
The most important part of the festival is its unique artistic residency programme. This year, the selection committee, chaired by curators and art historians, chose three artists: Marta Bogdańska, Anna Kędziora and Nyo Jinyong Lian (France). Their newly commissioned works, created within the urban fabric of the resort town, will interpret the festival’s central theme. As Patrycja Tuchanowska-Ruszkiewicz, the festival producer, explains: “In addition to analysing the artists’ portfolios, the jury also took a close look at their proposed residency projects. The selection was guided by their exceptional sensitivity, fresh perspectives and ideas that we found particularly compelling, also in the context of the place where the festival takes place. The artists have shown Sopot things I had never seen before, even though I have been involved with the residencies since the very beginning.”
As every year, the key point on the festival map will be the State Art Gallery in Sopot. Alongside the works created by the resident artists, visitors will see projects by acclaimed artists. Paweł Bownik, in his exhibition “Disassembly”, will invite audiences into a world of precise deconstruction, exploring the boundaries between nature and technological intervention. With her exhibition “Nonduality”, Magdalena Hueckel will enter into a visual dialogue with the work of Fortunata Obrąpalska, searching for points of convergence in the exploration of identity and the experience of a dualistic world. The international character of the event will be further emphasised by the exhibition “Shape of Stories”, presenting work by a new wave of French photographers, including Maxime Riché and Alice Pallot.
“This year’s French edition is, in a sense, a return to the roots of our festival. Through our cooperation with Deauville in France, we discovered the residency-based Planche(s) Contact festival, which became an inspiration for creating the ‘W Ramach Sopotu’ Photography Festival. This makes me all the more excited to see the projects created during the joint residency of artists from Poland and France,” says Magdalena Czarzyńska-Jachim, Mayor of Sopot and founder of the festival.
“W Ramach Sopotu” is not limited to major gallery spaces; above all, it is about the vibrant presence of art throughout the city. Festival presentations will take place at venues including Goyki 3 Art Incubator, Sopot Centrum, and the independent galleries Splot and KIT. At the Sierakowski Manor House, audiences will immerse themselves in the theatrical world of Tadeusz Link, while at Sopoteka they will be able to experience photography in the form of an artbook – an artist’s book that in recent years has been gaining increasing recognition as an autonomous work of art.
As every year, the festival will be about much more than a presentation of “pretty pictures”. It will often address issues related to social change and contemporary global challenges. This September, Sopot – with its streets, courtyards and seaside landscape – will become a creative space for presenting works by established masters as well as students of photography schools, who will come together to share their approaches and concepts of image-making.
More information about the “W Ramach Sopotu” Photography Festival is available at wramachsopotu.pl.
Bio of this year’s “W Ramach Sopotu” Residents
Marta Bogdańska
A visual artist, photographer, filmmaker and cultural manager. She graduated in philosophy and gender studies from the University of Warsaw and from the Academy of Photography in Warsaw. She lived and worked in Lebanon for eight years, studying, among other things, in the Home Workspace programme run by Ashkal Alwan in Beirut. She also gained workshop experience at the School of Ecopoetics and the Fort Institute of Photography.
Her practice focuses on socio-political issues, working with archives and bringing marginalised narratives to light. She works across a broad range of media, from photography and video to sound and text, often employing participatory approaches. Her acclaimed book “Shifters” was named Best International Photography Publication of the Year 2022 by PHotoESPAÑA and received numerous nominations, including for the Kassel Dummy Award and the Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award Arles.
As a member of the Archive of Public Protests, she received the 2021 Look Award (Nagroda Spojrzenia) and was nominated for the Polityka Passport Awards. She has also received, among others, the Konrad Pustoła Scholarship and a grant from the Hestia Artistic Journey programme. Her work has been presented internationally, including in Paris, Milan, Melbourne and Thessaloniki. She is currently an artist-in-residence at the Museum of Photography in Kraków and at the “W Ramach Sopotu” Photography Festival.
Anna Kędziora
A visual artist, curator and researcher, and an assistant professor at the Faculty of Photography at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts in Poznań. Her artistic practice focuses on the concept of landscape understood as a dynamic network of relationships between people, inanimate matter and the natural world. She examines traces of human presence, exploring the historical, ecological and political entanglements of contemporary systems of knowledge production.
Her artistic practice combines fieldwork with archival research and studio-based activities. Although photography and photographic thinking are her primary points of departure, she frequently incorporates ceramics and glass into her projects. Her work has been presented at numerous exhibitions and conferences across Europe and Asia, including in South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Spain.
As a curator, she has co-created prestigious photography events such as the Photography Biennale in Poznań, TIFF Festival in Wrocław, and the Month of Photography in Berlin and Riga. She is a scholarship recipient of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and has received grants from the National Recovery Plan for Culture (KPO) and the Marshal of the Greater Poland Voivodeship.
Nyo Jinyong Lian
An artist and photographer based in Paris, she graduated from the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2024. Her practice balances social observation and literary fiction, which she uses as a critical tool for examining mechanisms of power, gender norms and the structures that organise contemporary societies.
In her works, including the series “Trust Me”, Lian blurs the boundaries between documentary and staged photography, using absurdity to expose the fragility of human convictions. Despite being at an early stage of her career, her work has been presented at Les Rencontres d’Arles, PhotoSaintGermain in Paris, as well as at the Sigg Art Foundation in Riyadh and the Tianfu Image Art Center in China.
In 2025, she received the Grand Prix at the 212 Photography Istanbul festival as well as the Prix Jeunes Talents. Her artist’s book “Trust Me” (2025) was selected by the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in the self-publishing category.
More about FFWRS: www.wramachsopotu.pl
The most important part of the festival is its unique artistic residency programme. This year, the selection committee, chaired by curators and art historians, chose three artists: Marta Bogdańska, Anna Kędziora and Nyo Jinyong Lian (France). Their newly commissioned works, created within the urban fabric of the resort town, will interpret the festival’s central theme. As Patrycja Tuchanowska-Ruszkiewicz, the festival producer, explains: “In addition to analysing the artists’ portfolios, the jury also took a close look at their proposed residency projects. The selection was guided by their exceptional sensitivity, fresh perspectives and ideas that we found particularly compelling, also in the context of the place where the festival takes place. The artists have shown Sopot things I had never seen before, even though I have been involved with the residencies since the very beginning.”
As every year, the key point on the festival map will be the State Art Gallery in Sopot. Alongside the works created by the resident artists, visitors will see projects by acclaimed artists. Paweł Bownik, in his exhibition “Disassembly”, will invite audiences into a world of precise deconstruction, exploring the boundaries between nature and technological intervention. With her exhibition “Nonduality”, Magdalena Hueckel will enter into a visual dialogue with the work of Fortunata Obrąpalska, searching for points of convergence in the exploration of identity and the experience of a dualistic world. The international character of the event will be further emphasised by the exhibition “Shape of Stories”, presenting work by a new wave of French photographers, including Maxime Riché and Alice Pallot.
“This year’s French edition is, in a sense, a return to the roots of our festival. Through our cooperation with Deauville in France, we discovered the residency-based Planche(s) Contact festival, which became an inspiration for creating the ‘W Ramach Sopotu’ Photography Festival. This makes me all the more excited to see the projects created during the joint residency of artists from Poland and France,” says Magdalena Czarzyńska-Jachim, Mayor of Sopot and founder of the festival.
“W Ramach Sopotu” is not limited to major gallery spaces; above all, it is about the vibrant presence of art throughout the city. Festival presentations will take place at venues including Goyki 3 Art Incubator, Sopot Centrum, and the independent galleries Splot and KIT. At the Sierakowski Manor House, audiences will immerse themselves in the theatrical world of Tadeusz Link, while at Sopoteka they will be able to experience photography in the form of an artbook – an artist’s book that in recent years has been gaining increasing recognition as an autonomous work of art.
As every year, the festival will be about much more than a presentation of “pretty pictures”. It will often address issues related to social change and contemporary global challenges. This September, Sopot – with its streets, courtyards and seaside landscape – will become a creative space for presenting works by established masters as well as students of photography schools, who will come together to share their approaches and concepts of image-making.
More information about the “W Ramach Sopotu” Photography Festival is available at wramachsopotu.pl.
Bio of this year’s “W Ramach Sopotu” Residents
Marta Bogdańska
A visual artist, photographer, filmmaker and cultural manager. She graduated in philosophy and gender studies from the University of Warsaw and from the Academy of Photography in Warsaw. She lived and worked in Lebanon for eight years, studying, among other things, in the Home Workspace programme run by Ashkal Alwan in Beirut. She also gained workshop experience at the School of Ecopoetics and the Fort Institute of Photography.
Her practice focuses on socio-political issues, working with archives and bringing marginalised narratives to light. She works across a broad range of media, from photography and video to sound and text, often employing participatory approaches. Her acclaimed book “Shifters” was named Best International Photography Publication of the Year 2022 by PHotoESPAÑA and received numerous nominations, including for the Kassel Dummy Award and the Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award Arles.
As a member of the Archive of Public Protests, she received the 2021 Look Award (Nagroda Spojrzenia) and was nominated for the Polityka Passport Awards. She has also received, among others, the Konrad Pustoła Scholarship and a grant from the Hestia Artistic Journey programme. Her work has been presented internationally, including in Paris, Milan, Melbourne and Thessaloniki. She is currently an artist-in-residence at the Museum of Photography in Kraków and at the “W Ramach Sopotu” Photography Festival.
Anna Kędziora
A visual artist, curator and researcher, and an assistant professor at the Faculty of Photography at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts in Poznań. Her artistic practice focuses on the concept of landscape understood as a dynamic network of relationships between people, inanimate matter and the natural world. She examines traces of human presence, exploring the historical, ecological and political entanglements of contemporary systems of knowledge production.
Her artistic practice combines fieldwork with archival research and studio-based activities. Although photography and photographic thinking are her primary points of departure, she frequently incorporates ceramics and glass into her projects. Her work has been presented at numerous exhibitions and conferences across Europe and Asia, including in South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Spain.
As a curator, she has co-created prestigious photography events such as the Photography Biennale in Poznań, TIFF Festival in Wrocław, and the Month of Photography in Berlin and Riga. She is a scholarship recipient of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and has received grants from the National Recovery Plan for Culture (KPO) and the Marshal of the Greater Poland Voivodeship.
Nyo Jinyong Lian
An artist and photographer based in Paris, she graduated from the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2024. Her practice balances social observation and literary fiction, which she uses as a critical tool for examining mechanisms of power, gender norms and the structures that organise contemporary societies.
In her works, including the series “Trust Me”, Lian blurs the boundaries between documentary and staged photography, using absurdity to expose the fragility of human convictions. Despite being at an early stage of her career, her work has been presented at Les Rencontres d’Arles, PhotoSaintGermain in Paris, as well as at the Sigg Art Foundation in Riyadh and the Tianfu Image Art Center in China.
In 2025, she received the Grand Prix at the 212 Photography Istanbul festival as well as the Prix Jeunes Talents. Her artist’s book “Trust Me” (2025) was selected by the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in the self-publishing category.
More about FFWRS: www.wramachsopotu.pl