Born in 1984, Gęsicka is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Photography in Warsaw. In her work, she explores the nature of memory, using archival materials, images from old newspapers and photographs from stock image libraries.
According to the gallery’s website, Gęsicka’s shortlisted project, Encyclopaedia, "humorously reimagines fake encyclopaedia entries, spotlighting the tensions between truth and invention and leading us to question what is ‘real’?”
The project uses "fake entries intentionally inserted into encyclopaedias, dictionaries and lexicons, originally devised as traps to catch copyright violations or as a playful way for editors to leave their mark on the text."
These fictitious facts, the website says, subtly contribute to the erosion of trust in sources once considered authoritative. In Encyclopaedia, Gęsicka presents several hundred such fabricated definitions sourced from historical publications she bought online.
The winner of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize will be announced in London on May 14, with each of the other shortlisted artists receiving £5,000.
The exhibition of the finalists' work runs until June 7. In September, it will move to the headquarters of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Eschborn, Germany.
Launched in 1996, the prize is given annually to an artist whose exhibition or book has made a significant contribution to photography over the previous 12 months.
(mk/gs)