The Carrying
For years, I have been fascinated by the process of doing things with your hands. I have focused on capturing hands creating or simply doing something, and I have seen people dedicating themselves to their work in different cultures and countries. I noticed that hands today are a symbol of beauty—not so long ago, they were often the subject of hard work or exploitation. Hands can be seen as a symbol of beauty while also being a symbol of hard work and exploitation, and my paintings research this paradox.
Martyna Benedyka was born in 1991 in Poland. She acquired a BA (First Class Honours) in Fine Art Painting from Gray's School of Art in Scotland. Benedyka’s work has been exhibited in the UK, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Canada, and the USA, among others. She works in several different media, including painting, photography, and collage. To Benedyka, the fact that no two photographic prints are ever exactly the same is a perfect analogy of how she views painting. Photography has taught her that memory is fragile and uncertain, and through her painted surfaces, memories are recorded and transformed. Modest in scale and subject, Benedyka’s paintings become fleeting moments of distorted reality.