Agata Grzybowska

   

Agata Grzybowska (b. 1984) - photojournalist, photographer, and video-maker based in Warsaw. 

She graduated from the Direction of Photography at the Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Lodz. She teaches history of photojournalism at SWPS University in Warsaw. 
In 2017, she became a holder of the ‘Young Poland’ Scholarship granted by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.
In 2022, in collaboration with the Polish Humanitarian Action she created an educational documentary online platform "The Home”. The project was carried out with the support of the Google Impact Challenge Fund. In 2012 – 2019, Grzybowska was working as a photojournalist for Gazeta Wyborcza. 

Today, she works as a freelancer, collaborating with magazines and media platforms in Poland and abroad, i.a. CNN, Der Spiegel, World Health Organization, AP, LFI Blog Online, Bloomberg UK, Vogue Polska, Pismo, Tygodnik Powszechny, Newsweek Polska, Digital Camera Poland, Multimedia Gazeta, etc., but also focuses on personal projects related to photography and film. 

In 2020, in collaboration with a Polish film director Radka Franczak, Grzybowska started working on a documentary film “Madame Rebel. The Story of Marcella Sembrich” about Polish opera singer Marcella Sembrich, who had been erased from the pages of history.  In 2019, in collaboration with an Iranian film director Azadi Moghadam, as DoP Grzybowska made a documentary film about the situation of single women in Iranian society.

In 2015, her photograph taken during ‘Black Thursday’ in Kiev won The Picture of The Year 2015 award in BZ WBK PRESS FOTO Competition. Grzybowska also was granted the first prize for single picture in the category Events at the same competition. 
In 2013, she won the second prize in the category Photocast, for her work ‘Kill the Gay’ at the Grand Press Photo Competition. The same year, together with a writer Wojciech Karpieszuk, Grzybowska won the Observer Award at Student Journalism Competition MediaTory. 

She has been a finalist of many prestigious photography awards, including the BZWBK Press Photo (2015, 2014), Grand Press Photo (2017, 2015, 2014, 2013) and Amnesty International (2013).  In 2017, she published her first photo book ‘9 Gates of No Return’ (BLOW UP PRESS). Her photography project about solitude and loneliness has been presented at several photo books exhibitions, i.a. on the photography festival Les Recontres De La Photographie in Arles, France 2018, PHotoESPAÑA 2018 in Madrid, Spain, at Tokyo Institute of Photography in 2019 and MOPLA Photo Book Exhibition in Los Angeles, USA and Athens Photo Festival 2018. It has been internationally recognized and awarded. In Poland, it won the first prize as a photobook of the year in Grand Press Photo 2018 and the Plebiscite Fotopolis & Digital Camera 2017, but also Gold Award in TIFA 2018 (Tokyo International Foto Awards), Silver at MIFA 2018 (Moscow International Photo Awards). 

Her photographs were also published in several magazines in Poland and abroad. The project was also selected to be presented within the main program of Krakow Photomonth 2018, Photography Festival ‘W Ramach Sopotu’ 2018, and Photo Festival ‘Head On’ 2018 in Sydney, Australia, and few other.  

Grzybowska travels across the world depicting people in difficult, often life-threatening situations. While working, her principle is to get as close as possible to people and their stories. 
Her works and projects have been shown at Royal Castle in Warsaw, courtyard of the President’s Palace in Warsaw, Wroclaw Contemporary Museum, European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk, the Wilson Shaft Gallery in Katowice, the Old Brewery in Poznan, The FF Gallery - Forum of Photography in Lodz, Romanian Cultural Institute in Bucharest, Tokyo Institute of Photography, Delmar Gallery in Sydney, Australia, and AG Gallerie in Tehran, Iran.


AWARDS, SHORTLISTS, AND GRANTS
2018 - HONORABLE MENTION INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD -  "9 GATES OF NO RETURN"
2018 - MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL FOTO AWARDS (MIFA) - SILVER IN BOOK PEOPLE - "9 GATES OF NO RETURN" - BLOW UP PRESS
2018 - GRAND PRESS PHOTO THE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR  2017 - "9 GATES OF NO RETURN" - BLOW UP PRESS
2018 - GRAND PRESS PHOTO - SHORTLISTED IN CATEGORY EVENTS
2018 - 9 GATES OF NO RETURN  SHORTLISTED FOR THE PHOTOBOOK OF THE YEAR DURING 2018 FOTOFESTIWAL LODZ
2018 - PHotoESPAÑA 2018 - SHORTLISTED  FOR THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD IN THE INTERNATIONAL CATEGORY
2018 - MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY LOS ANGELES (MOPLA) - OFFICIAL SELECTION BOOK EXHIBITION - "9 GATES OF NO RETURN" - BLOW UP PRESS
2017- STRZAŁY 2017 - NOMINATION IN LUBLIN CULTURAL EVENT AWARD - "KOCHAM LUBLIN SZANUJE. HARMONY OF THE CITY"
2017 - PLEBISCITE FOTOPOLIS & DIGITAL CAMERA - PHOTOBOOK OF THE YEAR - "9 GATES OF NO RETURN" - BLOW UP PRESS
2017 - YOUNG POLISH 2017 - POLISH MINISTRY OF CULTURE GRANT FOR YOUNG ARTIST
2015 - BZ WBK PRESS PHOTO 2015 - PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2015
2015 - BZ WBK PRESS PHOTO 2015 - 1ST PRIZE IN CATEGORY GENERAL NEWS
2014 – GRAND PRESS PHOTO -NOMINATION IN CATEGORY EVENTS
2013 – GRAND PRESS PHOTO - 2ND PRIZE IN PHOTOCAST CATEGORY FOR "KILL THE GAY"
2013 – AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’13 - HONORABLE MENTION
2013 – MEDIATORY STUDENT JOURNALISM AWARDS - "OBSERVER PRIZE"

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2022: "My Home. Civilians during the war: Poland, Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Lebnanon", curator: Alicja Ryś, Anna Brzezińska
2021: "My City" - Agata Grzybowska, Tadeusz Rolkę, Chris Niedenthal, Tomek Sikora and Andrzej Świetlik, photography exhibition, Elektrownia Powiśle, Warsaw, curator: Anna Brzezińska,  
2020: "9 GATES OF NO RETURN" - solo photography show Kordegarda. Gallery of the National Centre for Culture, curator Katarzyna Haber, Warsaw, Poland
2019: "9 GATES OF NO RETURN" - solo photography show AG Gallerie, curator Simindokht Degani  Teheran, Iran
2019: "9 GATES OF NO RETURN" - solo photography show in Delmar Gallery, curator Catherine Benz, Sydney, Australia
2019: "9 GATES OF NO RETURN" - exhibition polish photography book „The Tell of Plain Books”, curator Maciej Bujko, Tokio Institute of Photography, T.I.P / 72 Gallery, Tokio, Japan
2018: "9 GATES OF NO RETURN" during phonebook show of the 2018 Athens Photo Festival in The Benaki Museum
2018: "9 GATES OF NO RETURN" solo show during Photography Festival in Opole
2018: "9 GATES OF NO RETURN" - solo show during Photography Festival in Sopot „W ramach Sopotu”, curator Maja Kaszkur
2018: "SALON OF PHOTOGRAPHY: VOLUMES AND OTHER BIRDS ALIKE" - group show of the Lodz Film School’s students and graduates - Art Book Museum in Lodz
2018: "SALON OF PHOTOGRAPHY: SALON" - group show of the Lodz Film School’s teachers, students and graduates - OÅ›rodek Propaganda Sztuki in Lodz
2018: "9 GATES OF NO RETURN"  - solo show during Cracow Photo Month, curator Iris Sikking
2018: SOUND PHOTO INSTALLATION - Targi Press Photo EXPO in Warsaw
2017: inPRO Collective - exhibition during Photography Festival in Ostroleka
2016: FORGOTTEN BY WORLD - exhibition documenting the conflict in eastern Ukraine - European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk
2015: FORGOTTEN BY WORLD - exhibition documenting the conflict in eastern Ukraine - Royal Castle in Warsaw
2015: ROOTS & FRUITS - Wroclaw Contemporary Museum during TIFF FESTIVAL
2015: Collective exhibition BZ WBK Press Photo in The Wilson Shaft Gallery in Katowice
2015: Collective exhibition BZ WBK Press Photo in The Old Brewery in Poznan
2015: Collective exhibition BZ WBK Press Photo in the Galery FF - Forum Of Photography in Lodz
2015: Maidan - collective exhibition on the anniversary of Maidan in Presidential Palace in Warsaw
2014: Screening of photocast ’Record’ which is a documentation of revolution in Kiev during the "Container Freedom" project in different cities of Polish
2013: Collective exhibition Grand Press Photo 2013 in Warsaw
2010: IN/OUT Exhibition of PWSFTViT diploma works in the Fabrystrefa Gallery in Lodz
2010: "COME ON! COME CLOSER!" Exhibition of the best works of the PWSFTViT photography department students held in the Art Propaganda Centre in Lodz
2009: Romania, a Country Of Friendly People - exhibition in the Romanian Cultural Institute in Bucharest
2009: "FREED" - exhibition during the Multimedia Festival - The Art of the Document, presented at the Royal Route  in Warsaw