Limbo

Born in 1979 in Leszno, Paulina Otylie Surys is a Polish fashion photographer based in London, UK. Influenced by her study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poland, she started to experiment with the photographic medium working on Polaroids, manipulating and hand-colouring them. She then completed her education in Photography at Middlesex University in London. Applying a mixture of toners, chemicals, inks and dry dyes, photography and painting merge in equal measure in her images. She employs a variety of vintage cameras, working with 35mm, medium and large format film, and uses a wide range of techniques such as tintype and the wet plate collodion processing. Surys practice is inspired by an old and traditional form of colourizations that introduces limited colour into a black-and-white film. Inspired by mythological stories and Medieval sorcerers, alchemists and mystics, Surys’ work centres on creating surreal and unique situations that combine the world of reality with the domain of imagination and illusion.