Vogue Poland
May 8, 2024
by Julia Właszczuk
“Fulfill The Dream” is the most personal album by Polish photographer Magdalena Wosińska
“Fulfill The Dream”, a new album by Magdalena Wosińska, has been created over the past 25 years. This most personal book in the artist’s achievements tells about growing up, femininity and the need for belonging.
Hollywood has accustomed us to a vision of the sun-drenched in California, where summer lasts all year. However, when we call Magda on Zoom, spring temperature records are in Warsaw, and in Los Angeles it rains every day. “It’s not as warm as old here,” Magda said. She moved to the City of Angels 20 years ago. Previously, she lived with her family in Arizona, where they moved from Warsaw in the early 1990s. The future photographer was eight years old: “It was a difficult time. I felt lost. All my reference points have disappeared and I had to recreate my world.
Her two teenage passions helped her in a new situation – photography and skateboarding. They were inspired by Wosińska’s new album, “Fulfill The Dream”, which was released in mid-April by the Homecoming Gallery. He's th
The right to affiliation is one of the the themes of Magda Wosińska’s.
Magda reached for the board when she was 12. “The fit in the 1990s wasn’t cool. This was seen as a form of rebellion and even vandalism. It would not occur to us that someday professional skatells will compete in the Olympic competition. Back then, it was a job for outcasts, outsiders like me, he says. In this marginalized community, the teenage Magda was looking for a community that would adopt it with open arms. But that didn't happen. “I was a girl, an immigrant, I didn’t have any money. For the first few years I was convinced that I was the only skater in the world. In this way, she even stood out from outsiders.
Perhaps it was her unique perspective that became an impulse to reach for the camera two years later. I had a hundred ideas for a minute. When I started, I didn’t even know that you could make money from taking pictures. That’s why so many of my photographs from this period were lost. It didn’t occur to me that it was worth stopping. Fortunately, some of her work from that time survived and it was they who prompted Wosińska to create the “Fulfill The Dream”.
In “Fulfill The Dream” by Wosińska’s photos are accompanied by essays
Her new album is a story about growing up, shades of femininity and the need for belonging. Hundreds taken over the last quarter of a century of photographs are accompanied by a very personal essay by the author. Intimacy “Fulfill The Dream” is also added by numerous Magda self-portrait. “By taking pictures of myself, I could see the world see me,” he explains. “Today photography is like air to me. Through the lens, I know myself and the world – he adds.
By joining the work on “Fulfill The Dream”, Wosińska’s goal was guided by two goals – to pay tribute to the skater community and show how it has changed over the years, as well as look at its teenage alter ego, functioning beyond the obvious framework of masculinity and femininity. I have felt very masculine all my life. It was my armor protecting me from the world. I always looked for my femininity. Today I am 40 years old and in a way I am still looking for it – he explains. The result of this search is a trangressive album, which consists primarily of photos of men – skate, musicians, partners – made and complemented by a female observer and narrator.
Polish artist begins a new chapter
When Magda packed her live a live pot and moved to Los Angeles, she collided with a glass ceiling and again. Famous skateboarders and cherry magazines were not interested in the perspective of a young photographer. The frustrated camera put the camera down for almost a decade and took up music. During this time, she played in a team with an older boyfriend, Ethan. Both were skate-simps and they both felt rejected by the community. At the same time, Magda also hung off the board: “I couldn’t risk breaking my hand because I couldn’t play.
For a moment after her 30th birthday, she reached for her camera again. A lot has changed over several years, especially by itself. Today, her photographs appear in the most prestigious magazines, and in her lens poses such icons as David Lynch, Joaquin Phoenix or Joanna Kulig. And while she still encounters resistance from publications less open to changes, no skate will refuse when Magda asks if she can take a picture of him.
My 40th birthday was recently celebrated. On this occasion, she started with her own punk band. They have their debut album and their first tour. On the Wosińska stage you can see in the same set as in the photos from “Fulfill The Dream” – a flannel shirt, baggy jeans and vans in a black and white chessboard. It seems that the girl from the photographs really managed to fulfill their dream.