Sorry for the lack of contact

Katerina Kouzmitcheva
Submission
January 30, 2025
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Sorry for the Lack of Contact—this phrase has become a recurring refrain in the past few years of my life. After moving to Poland, I was caught in a whirlwind of upheavals that upended my sense of stability. My 20-year marriage came to an end, my daughters were diagnosed with depression, and the person I deeply cared for was grappling with severe emotional struggles, relying on medication. Our relationship oscillated between moments of profound intimacy and stretches of complete silence, leaving me emotionally isolated, unable to maintain contact even with those who needed me most, including my own children.
Life became a turbulent mix of emotional highs and lows, relentless work schedules, empty hotel rooms, and the cacophony of noisy gatherings. All of it blended into a bitter cocktail of exhaustion, loneliness, and frantic attempts at distraction.
My photo story is a visual exploration of the loss of closeness and its profound impact on how we perceive the world and ourselves. Through this work, I seek to capture how, in the midst of emotional turmoil, we lose and rediscover our sense of self through our connections with others. It is an investigation of relationships—their presence and absence, the tension between deep unity and sudden detachment, and the internal dialogue that underpins our search for connection with ourselves, those who need us, and the world around us.

About
Katerina Kouzmitcheva is a Belarusian photographer, based in Wroclaw, Poland, working at the intersection of genres, documentary and art photography. In her projects, she explores the topic of human interactions and political systems, identity-constructive memory, and issues of feminine gender roles. Katerina is a winner of the international photo competitions TIFA and BIFA, a grant holder of Gaude Polonia from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, a member of the international association of photojournalists WOMEN PHOTOGRAPH. Her works have been published in Bird in Flight, Monovisions, Dodho, and others.

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Katerina Kouzmitcheva
Submission
January 30, 2025
Save