Painting in the Dark 2023 Collaboration

Alicja Mrozowska & Paul Miller 

Painting in the Dark explores the shaping of identity through the personal processing of relationships, places and experiences. Through the combination of intuitive painting, projection mapping and sound, the piece creates a layered, fluid portrait presenting identity as an immersive, multi-dimensional exploration. 

Drawing from experiences of growing up as a migrant through nods to Polish food and life, combined with navigating life in the UK, painting is used to represent both places and the complicated relationship of ‘home’. Paper and plastic function as the ’canvas’. Separate painted 2D and 3D elements are manipulated and arranged together, echoing how we might express or suppress different parts of ourselves. A soundscape of melody and abstracted conversation in Polish and English provides an insight into the sometimes challenging layers of identity and the cultural and societal factors.  

Projection and the inclusion of sound-reactive textures guide the viewer, revealing and animating the painted elements along the way. Alternate perspectives of the piece are offered through the application of projection mapping. The moving light transforms the paint simultaneously recreating the painting process, the plastic elements create light refractions around the space and the layers of jigsaw-like paper parts are exposed. 

Through an alternate approach to portraiture we hope to celebrate the process of growing, changing and continuously redefining ‘home’.