KAROLINA SKOREK
“My imagery frequently references mythology, archetype and psychological
narrative. These elements are not used illustratively but as frameworks through
which emotional states can be explored. Symbols act as vessels for memory, grief,
vulnerability, resilience and transformation. By integrating mythic structures with
contemporary visual techniques, I aim to create compositions that feel both
ancient and newly imagined”
Karolina Skorek is a Polish-born multidisciplinary artist based in Wales, whose practice spans photography, digital painting, etching, and hybrid mixed-media processes. She is known for her painterly surrealism, atmospheric use of chiaroscuro, and the integration of symbolic, mythic, and psychological narratives within her visual language. Her work bridges the sensibilities of classical painting with contemporary digital experimentation, resulting in emotionally charged, introspective compositions that inhabit the threshold between reality and the imaginary.
Skorek studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, where she completed an MA in Glass Design. Although her academic training was rooted in material and sculptural processes, it was during this period that she began exploring the intersection of photography and painting. She developed a method of image construction that merges photographic realism with the tonal depth and symbolic complexity of traditional fine art practices. This interdisciplinary foundation became central to her later work and continues to inform the hybrid nature of her visual approach.
After relocating to the United Kingdom, Skorek expanded her practice to include digital illustration, atmospheric compositing, and narrative driven visual research. Her imagery draws heavily on chiaroscuro, mythological frameworks, archetypes, and the psychological dimensions of storytelling. She is particularly interested in the emotional and symbolic structures that operate beneath the surface of the image, constructing visual worlds that evoke introspection and invite open interpretation.
Skorek describes her own practice as operating at the intersection of photography, digital painting, and mixed media experimentation. She is fascinated by how images can function as symbolic narratives, where memory, myth, and emotional experience overlap. Rather than treating medium as a boundary, she approaches it as an integrated system: photography provides structure and physical presence, painting adds atmosphere and symbolic depth, and digital processes enable metamorphosis. The tension between these elements allows her to construct worlds that are intimate yet heightened, grounded in realism yet unmistakably surreal.
Light plays a central role in her visual language. Chiaroscuro is both a stylistic and conceptual device, reflecting the threshold between illumination and obscurity a metaphor for the space between the conscious and subconscious. Skorek is drawn to moments where clarity and uncertainty coexist, and where figures or gestures carry emotional weight without declaring a single, fixed meaning. Her imagery frequently references mythology, archetype, and psychological narrative, not as illustration but as frameworks through which emotional states can be explored. Symbols act as vessels for memory, grief, vulnerability, resilience, and transformation. By integrating mythic structures with contemporary visual techniques, she creates compositions that feel both ancient and newly imagined.
Process is essential to her work. Each piece develops through layering: initial photographic sketches, digital mark-making, painterly textures, and hand-crafted elements such as etchings or analogue distortions. This method mirrors the way memory operates (fragmented, nonlinear, accumulative) allowing the final image to hold multiple temporalities at once. The result is less a depiction of a scene and more an emotional architecture, a symbolic space that invites the viewer to enter rather than merely observe.
Skorek’s work has been exhibited internationally and featured in publications including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Tatler Asia. She has received several awards, most notably the Julia Margaret Cameron Award, which recognized her contribution to contemporary fine-art photography and her ongoing dedication to expanding the possibilities of hybrid visual practice.
In addition to her studio work, Skorek is an active lecturer and researcher, teaching in both the UK and China. Her academic interests include narrative construction, symbolism, myth-informed visual languages, and contemporary digital creativity. Through interdisciplinary projects, she merges fine-art methodologies with conceptual research, world building, and psychological inquiry, contributing to a broader dialogue on the evolving landscape of contemporary visual practice.
Ultimately, Karolina Skorek’s work is an exploration of the narratives we carry within us the unseen interior worlds shaped by memory, imagination, and psychological experience. Her images remain open, acting as mirrors rather than answers, offering viewers a space for introspection and reflection on both personal and collective experiences.
