An Enlightening Conversation with Magdalena Wosinska
Heavy Metal Parking Lot, 2010 © Magdalena Wosinska Courtesy of Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles
As a photographer, Magdalena Wosinska’s values are rooted in her own status as an outsider—first, as a newcomer to America from Eastern Europe, and later, as a woman in the male-dominated worlds of skateboarding and heavy metal music—and shaped by her own experiences of personal challenge and growth. For Wosinska, the camera is a way of building meaningful connections between herself, her subjects, and the viewer.
The qualities that underpin Wosinska’s work also set it apart. Communication and empathy lie at the heart of her practice. For Wosinska, photography is a creative exchange based on authenticity and trust, and the set is a space where both photographer and subject can share a sense of vulnerability and openness. Ensuring that her subjects feel safe and valued allows Wosinska to capture emotions and personal narratives in which viewers can also recognize themselves.
Wosinska considers it a privilege to work with people, to witness history through the eyes of others and to use the camera as a way of exploring our shared humanity. Her bold visual style – shaped, in part, by many years of experience photographing subcultural communities – forms a strong counterpoint to the warmth and sensitivity of her portrayals. Through her photography, Wosinska embraces the passion, richness, and complexity of human experience.
Publications and Exhibitions:
Magdalena has published four books, Bite It You Scum (2010), The Experience Vol.1 (2015), Leftovers Of Love (2018), and Fulfill The Dream (2024), capturing the spirit of American Wanderlust, subcultures, the search for femininity and the pain of heartbreak. Wosinska’s work and book projects have been exhibited at Fahey/Klein Gallery (Los Angeles), Praz Delavallade Gallery (Los Angeles), and Webber Gallery (London and Los Angeles), with Leftovers Of Love securing a place in the MoMA Library Collection. Wosinska's retrospective show ‘In Between Life’ was at Malaga’s Centro Cultural during Moments Festival 2023, and She currently has a retrospective for Fulfill The Dream at Fahey/Klein Gallery (Los Angeles), which opened on April 18th, 2024.
I had the pleasure of asking Magdalena about the hardest lesson she has learned as an artist, what it has taught her, what type of light she prefers, her new book, and so much more.
UZOMAH: How do you make the people you take portraits of help them feel relaxed and in their own nature?
MAGDALENA: I like to get to know people as I photograph them, ask questions, and find similarities and something to get excited about together. This often almost distracts people from getting their photo taken, and you can capture someone in their natural state. If AI or any assisted technology could bring an existing piece of art to life, which would you want to come to life, and why? I'm not sure I see the world this way yet. I'm very open to it, but at the moment, I'm focusing on connecting with people and their emotions in the most raw human way. I'm sure it will be a great tool when the time is right for me.
U: How do you feel about AI, being that you come from a time when taking photos did not have such a heavy influence on advanced technology as there is today?
M: I think it’s a great tool to learn and have in the back pocket when needed. At the moment, it feels like a lot of AI in photos specifically looks the same, so I'm curious to see what it looks like when this field evolves in photography. I do think that human error is one of the most beautiful things in art, and it seems like AI doesn't make that on its own, I am curious if it will.
Matty South, Chasing Storms, 2024 © Magdalena Wosinska, courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles
U: Do you prefer a manual camera to a digital camera?
M: Film always!
U: In your book Fulfill the Dream, you use a documentary style to capture the American skate culture of the '90s. You use both color and black-and-white film. How did capturing such an essential time for culture, not just in the US, disrupt the stereotypes of what it means to be a skater?
M: Not sure if this disrupted the stereotype of being a skater. Firstly anyone who was a skate kid in the mid 90’s was looked at as a rebel from other groups, secondly being a girl doing it was almost taboo, not only by the outside world but at times the world I was trying to fit into. Taking photos of these new times for me and the world gave me a reason to be there, so if I didn't belong because of one thing, I'd find a way to fit in in another way. Adaptation, I suppose.
Changes, 2017 © Magdalena Wosinska, courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles
U: Which do you prefer, natural light or a device that provides light?
M: Natural light always. My life purpose is to follow light and create images. I always have my camera on me, so when I see something, especially in the perfect light, I can capture it forever! I'm always paying attention to what light is doing.
U: What is the most compelling part of taking photos for you and why?
M: Human connections, a new composition, a new idea, a new place, then dropping film off at the lab, getting it back a week later, not fully remembering my exact composition, and getting the images back. It's the best feeling, like a nice surprise, a treat, or a present on Christmas morning.
Saba, 2001 © Magdalena Wosinska, courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles
U: How would you grapple with today's technology changes as a photographer in the 90s?
M: Well, I would be taking pictures just as much now as then, and I say the changes don't affect those who are focused on what they love as much as those who are distracted by what is around them. I think always evolving with the tech side of things is great, and applying it to your work however it might fit your needs is great. We have so many great ways as photographers these days to share our work, so it's very beneficial.
Meat Bench, 2012 © Magdalena Wosinska, courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles
U: Who is someone you have yet to photograph that you would love to, and why?
M: IGGY POP because I LOVE him and The Stooges!!!
Teenage Summer, 2023 © Magdalena Wosinska, courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles
U: How has taking pictures improved your outlook on society and the human condition?
M: It's helped me feel welcomed by the world, taken me to places, and introduced me to people who have changed my life. It's helped me see that world with more purpose, to tell untold stories.
Bruce and I, 2013 © Magdalena Wosinska, courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles
U: What is the hardest lesson you have had to learn as an artist? What has taught you that you apply daily in your creative process?
M: Keep your head up. There is SO MUCH rejection in this type of work and so many inconsistencies, but if you believe in yourself and what you create, it will help you get through the times when you feel down. It's hard work, but it’s all I know.
Joaquin Phoenix, 2019 © Magdalena Wosinska, courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles
For more information about Magdalena Wonsinska’s artwork please visit her site here, and you can follow her on Instagram. Magdalena's exhibition has also been showcased in the magazine and can be visited here. For a highlight of her book, please visit the Book Highlight section of the magazine here.
