© Edwina Richards
Izabela Pluta’s work explores the concept of ‘place’ through photography, shaped by her migrant experience and drawing attention to the impermanence of geographic boundaries and the effects of globalisation on culture, politics, and the environment. Her methods, including fieldwork and embodied practice, involve locating, fragmenting, translating, and reconfiguring photographed and found materials, disrupting the image plane to complicate the viewing experience and extend the possibilities of two-dimensional photographs. Pluta’s engagement with collected ephemera critiques systems of knowledge and image-making driven by the pursuit of understanding natural forces.
Pluta was born in Warsaw, Poland, and migrated to Australia in 1987. She lives and works between Awabakal country (Newcastle, NSW) and the lands of the Bidjigal and Gadigal (Paddington, Sydney). She completed her undergraduate studies in fine art at The University of Newcastle, her Master of Fine Art at The University of New South Wales, and, in 2017, her PhD in the Faculty of Creative Arts, The University of Wollongong, entitled Allegories of Diaspora: Gleaning the residues of spatial and temporal misalignments.
