The Films of Pawel Wojtasik

Tonight's selection of Polish artist Pawel Wojtasik's recent films includes depictions of a woman's body, an autopsy, a recycling plant, and workers in Varanasi, India, all in sensual detail. Scott MacDonald, author of Avant-Doc, describes Wojtasik's imagery as "often simultaneously beautiful and disconcerting" and suggests that for the filmmaker, "making art is about facing fear-the fear of death, of pain, of loss, even the fear of seeing certain kinds of imagery on screen-and challenging taboos." Wojtasik elaborates, "I'm sometimes asked why I choose the subjects I do. I use art, and film, as a tool to discover ways in which I can go from fear to freedom from fear. Each one of my pieces is like a small journey from a state of fear through an experience of accessing and encountering some terrifying reality which speaks ultimately of death, and becoming intimate with it, until I see that there is something beyond death. Having a kind of intimacy with death allows you to be free of it."

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