Thea is a London-based artist, documentary photographer and researcher whose work explores the intersections of gender, ecology, and lived experience.
She recently completed an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography (Distinction) at LCC.
Her natural portraits reflect her quietly observant and gentle style, where her subjects are able to feel at ease in front of the camera.
Inspired by the writing of feminists Ursula K Le Guin and Jacquelyn N Zita, Thea’s research into the double standard of female ageing, the re-presentation of menopause and the history of medical misogyny has informed her most recent projects.
Thea’s recent photographic series ‘Hystera’ investigates historical and ongoing injustices in women’s healthcare, focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis.
In her photobook Night Pollinators, Thea turns her lens toward intergenerational relationships within her family, reflecting on her own experience of menopause, and the emotional terrain of living in the Anthropocene. Here, her practice combines documentary observation with symbolism and magical realism to explore both intimate, local narratives and wider universal experiences of womanhood and the theme of transformation.
thea@cocoajones.co.uk
“Women’s bodies are photographically contested. Objectified, then idealised then ignored. Thea Kaniewska re-examines the changing perceptions foisted on women across their lives. Her close female gaze exposes the limitations in age-old archetypes of ‘maiden, mother and crone’ which persist in contemporary society. It’s interesting to note that the project was made over a single summer, almost a moment in itself. I also like how Kaniewska’s work connects to the natural world through poetic references to cycles of life and death and a sense of unease cast by the climate and ecological crises.”
– Rachel Segal Hamilton, Contributing Editor for the Royal Photographic Society Journal
