The art of Anna Tomczak is a gift that finds its roots in cultural and religious traditions that honor and revere people, places and things. Ancient Egyptians built pyramids for their kings and queens, populating them with treasures for their comfort and future use. Gravestones of the 19th and 20th centuries often displayed miniature paintings or photographs of the departed. Placed by loved ones, flowers and souvenirs of lives accumulated at these sites.
Anna Tomczak―a connoisseur of memento mori and interpreter of dreams, memories and familial lore—commemorates ancestors, strangers, family and friends in her photographs. At home or as she travels, she looks for objects that she can’t resist. Flea markets, attics and antique stores are magnets. With the once-cherished items and castoffs she collects, Tomczak constructs revealing narratives that illuminate personal histories, tributes, ecological connections, and the sacred and secular.
Heleconia Parrot I, 1999
Four Candles, 2003
Jupiter, 2004
The riches from Tomczak’s garden, bits from other people’s lives, mementos from her own family and objet trouvé nourish her. They stimulate ideas and emotions when culled for use in still-life assemblages. She recycles, reinvents and repurposes her objects, making them part of her daily life as well as her art. Catholicism, mysticism and psychic energy are also ingredients that inform her imagination and creative spirit.
