Katerina Kouzmitcheva is a Polish photographer of Belarusian origin based in Wrocław, Poland. Working at the intersection of documentary and art photography, she explores how visible and invisible boundaries—geographical, ideological, and psychological—shape individual lives and collective attitudes. Her work focuses on migration, systems of control, memory, gender, and identity, while also turning inward—to vulnerability, femininity, and the emotional experience of loss—moving between the personal and the political.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Law, graduated from the Academy of Documentary and Art Photography “Fotografika” in St. Petersburg, and earned both her Master’s and PhD degrees in Fine Arts from the Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław. She is currently continuing her studies at the Institute of Creative Photography in Opava, Czech Republic.
She is a winner of international photography competitions including TIFA, BIFA, and the Urbanautica Institute Awards, and a recipient of the Gaude Polonia scholarship from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Katerina is a member of the international photojournalist collective Women Photograph. Her work has been exhibited in Arles, as well as in Brazil, Japan, Estonia, Hungary, and Poland. Her photography has been featured in publications including British Journal of Photography, Bird in Flight, Monovisions, and Dodho, among others.
Education
2023 — present time: The Institute of Creative Photography in Opava, Czech Republic
2025 — PhD in Visual Arts, Eugeniusz Geppert Academy, Wroclaw
2019 — 2021 — MFA in Visual Arts, Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław, Poland
2018 — 2019 — Saint- Petersburg Academy of documentary photography and photojournalism “Fotografika”, Russia
1998 — 2003 -Belarusian State Economic University, Business Law Faculty
ACHIEVEMENTS
2026 — URBAN photo awards, Italy. Mark Power special prize category Winner
2026 — Rovnij Photography Festival, Croatia. 2nd place in the category Architecture
2026 — FOTOFILMIC OPEN 2026 Exhibition, Canada. Finalist
2026 — URBANAUTICA INSTITUTE AWARDS 2025. Portfolio winner
2025 — Gomma Get published. Finalist
2025 — VAiF Photobook Festival, Greece. Finalist
2025 — Konrad Pustoła Memorial Scholarship, Poland
2025 — URBANAUTICA INSTITUTE AWARDS 2024. Portfolio winner
2025 - Leica Oskar Barnack Award nominee
2025 — VAiF Photobook Festival, Greece. Finalist
2025 — Gomma Get published. Finalist
2025 — Charta Award. Best entries
2025 — Sarajevo Photography Festival. Winner in the category Conceptual
2025 — Photopolis Agrinio Photo Festival, Greece. Finalist
2025 — Kolga Tbilisi Photo, Georgia. Shortlisted
2025 — Head On Photo Festival 2025, Australia. Shortlisted
2025 — NOICE magazine. Featured photographer
2024 — Foam Paul Huf Award nominee
2024 — PEP 'Parallel Realities' group show, Germany. Selected artist
2024 — The 2nd International Photography and Media Art Festival (IPMA), Kaunas, Lithuania. Selected artist
2024 — Bialystok Interphoto Portfolio review. Selected artist.
2024 — The World Report Award | Documenting Humanity 2024 Festival della Fotografia Etica. Shortlisted
2024 — Photo Match Fotofestival, Łódź, Poland
2024 — Talent of the year 2024, PIX House, Poland. Honorable mention in the category Curatorlab
2024 — NO BORDERS award. Finalist
2024 — FotoEvidence Book Award, USA. Selected for the Book
2024 — URBANAUTICA INSTITUTE AWARDS 2023. Shortlisted.
2023 — Tokyo International Photo Awards (TIFA). Bronze winner in the category Editorial — Photo Essay
2023 — Budapest International Photo Awards (BIFA). Honorable mention
2023 - the 7th Tallinn Photomonth contemporary art biennial, Estonia. Winner of the urban space photography project open call
2023 — Encontros da Imagem portfólio — review, Braga, Portugal. Finalist
2023 — ‘Screening vol. 3’ open call for Museum Night, Warsaw, Poland. Finalist
2023 — Portrait Photography Awards 2023 by Dodho Magazine. Finalist
2023 — WYSTAW SIĘ W CSW 2023 competition, Torun, Poland. Shortlisted
2022 — 16. Polish National Portrait Competition. Shortlisted
2022 — Portfolio Review in Kranj Foto fest, Slovenia. Winner
2022 — 12.Opole Photography Festival, Poland. Winner of the completion ‘Pokaż się’
2022 — 6.Wielkopolski Festiwal Fotografii im. I. Zjeżdżałki, Poznań, Poland. Shortlisted
2022 — Kranj Foto fest, Slovenia. Shortlisted
2022 — Photo Match Fotofestival, Lodz, Poland
2022 — WYSTAW SIĘ W CSW 2022 competition, Torun, Poland. Shortlisted
2021 — Hamburg portfolio review, Germany
2021 — International competition “Portret Prawdziwy”, Nowy Tomyśl, Poland. Shortlisted
2021 — Moscow International Photo Awards (MIFA). Honorable mention
2021 - grant holder of the Scholarship Programme of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland ‘Gaude Polonia’
2020 — Tokyo International Photo Awards (TIFA). Gold winner in the category People-Family and Second Place in the People category
2020 — Budapest International Photo Awards (BIFA). Silver winner
2020 — 75th College Photographer of the year, “Interpretive project” category, USA. Award of excellence in he competition
2020 — TIFF Festival 2020 / / Processes, Wrocław. Shortlisted
2020 — PRAFOTA Photography Contest, Belarus. Shortlisted
2017 — Member of the Belarusian Association of hotographers
2016 —Moscow International Photo Awards (MIFA). Honorable mention
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2026 — ‘FOTOFILMIC Open Exhibiton’, Bowen Island, Canada
2026 — Rovnij Photography Festival, Croatia
2026 — ‘Femininity and the Everyday’, Krakow, Poland
2026 — F-Stop Magazine — “Object Image”
2025 — Cancan Biennale 'Liberté de créer, liberté d’informer', Espace Saint-Nicolas, Coutances, Normandie, France
2025 — ‘Tri Poljske Fotografkinje’. Museum of Applied Art/ Belgrade Photo Month/ Polish Institute in Belgrade, Serbia
2025 — 'European Kinship: Eastern European Perspective'. Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center in Budapest, Hungary
2025 — ‘Wunderland’, Muzeum Współczesny we Wrocławiu
2025 — 'Parallel realities'. PEP. Kommunale Galerie Berlin
2024 — 'Life Today', ArtDoc Photography Magazine
2024 — 'GRANICE INSCENIZACJI 3', Wrocław, Poland
2024 — 'City', Bratislava Month of Photography, Slovakia
2024 — ITF exhibition at Art Fair in Budapest, Hungary
2024 — The 2nd International Photography and Media Art Festival (IPMA), Kaunas, Lithuania
2024 — ‘De Rerum Natura’, The Natural History Museum in Cieplice/Jelenia Gora, Poland
2024 — BENEATH THE SURFACE', gallery LA GRANDE VITRINE, Arles, France /festival RECONTRES d’ARLES
2024 — 'Dear Eastern Europe' at Zoetrope.Athens, Athens Photo Festival 2024 Satellite Program, Greece
2024 — ''Zbór wspólny”, Ziemnice, Poland
2024 — WYSTAW SIĘ W CSW, Toruń, Poland
2023 — ‘Inbetweenland’, Minsk Photo Days/Fotofestiwal, Lodz, Poland
2023 — “No. 11''/ Fotofestiwal, Lodz, Poland
2023 — “No. 11'', Sputnik Photos, Warsaw, Poland
2023 — “Home: state of transition”, São Paulo, Brazil
2023 — “The Best of — kompilacja”, Gdańsk, Poland
2023 — WYSTAW SIĘ W CSW, Toruń, Poland
2023 — Zmiana/Change, gallery Geppart, Wroclaw, Poland
2022 — 6.Wielkopolski Festiwal Fotografii im. I. Zjeżdżałki, Poznan, Poland
2022 — Kranj Foto Fest, Kranj, Slovenia
2022 — TIFA Exhibition, Shibuya Cultural Center Owada, Tokyo, Japan
2022 — WYSTAW SIĘ W CSW, CSW in Torun, Poland
2022 — ‘Zawierucha’, gallery Browar Mieszczański, Wroclaw, Poland
2021 — ‘Portret Prawdziwy’, Nowy Tomyśl, Poland
2021 — Hamburg portfolio review exhibition, featured photographer
2021 — ‘Archiwalia 21’, gallery ‘Za szafą’, Wroclaw, Poland
2020 — ‘Equation of State’, National centre of Contemporary art in Minsk, Belarus
2020 — ‘Staying Home Together’, F-stop Magazine. Photos are included into the book Staying Home Together, presented during Trieste Photo Days festival, in Italy, 2020
2020 — F-Stop Magazine — “The Open Theme”
2018 — ‘VORTEX PREVIEW’, Minsk, Belarus
INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS:
2026 — ‘Sorry for the lack of contact’, Photon Gallery, Ljubliana, Slovenia
2026 — ‘Topography of absence’, Opole Diocesan Museum, Poland
2026 — ’Artistic road of Katerina Kouzmitcheva', Kazimierz, Poland
2025 —'Hiraeth', MGFoto gallery, Myslinice, Poland
2025 — ‘Betonium’, Centrala gallery, Poznan, Poland
2025 — 'Light and shadow: artistic road of Katerina Kouzmitcheva'. Cultural center of Lublin, Poland
2024 — ‘Betonium’, MD_S gallery, Wroclaw, Poland
2024 — 'Limbo', Galeria Fotografii B& B, Bielsko-Biała, Poland
2023 — ‘My Hut Is On The Edge’, Tallinn Fotomonth, Estonia
2023 — ‘My Hut Is On The Edge’, Kranj Fotofest, Slovenia
2023 — 'Limbo', cultural center Projektownia, Wrocław, Poland
2023 — 'Limbo', Social Center Of Photography, Warsaw, Poland
2023 — 'Hiraeth', Vivid gallery, Wroclaw, Poland
2022 — ‘My Hut Is On The Edge’ at St. Matthew’s Rectory Church, Wroclaw, Poland
2022 — ‘My Hut Is On The Edge’ at 12.Opole Photography Festival, Opole, Poland (Museum of Opole Silesia)
2022 — ‘Locals’ at 19. Rybnik Photo Festival at the decimated Chapel of the former Julius hospital, Poland
2022 — ‘Locals’ at Entropia gallery, Wroclaw, Poland
2021-2022 —‘Sisterhood’ at Łącznik gallery, Wroclaw, Poland
2021 — ‘Luna’ in the gallery ‘Behind the glass’, Wroclaw, Poland
2017 — ‘Reflections’, Minsk, Belarus
JUDGING AND CURATION:
2024 — judge in photocompetition Wielkopolska DOC 2024
2024 — curator of the exhibition ‘De Rerum Natura” in the Natural History Museum in Jelenia Gora, Poland
2024 — judge in 37th edition of mgFoto 'World in 2023’
2023 — judge in 'Święto Fotografii’, Wrocław
2022 — Curator of the exhibition ‘Pho-Bos diplomas 2022'
2020 — 2021 — Curator of the International photo project 'Diary in times of Isolation'
2020 — 2021 — Judge at the Monovisions Photography Award
ART RESIDENCIES, CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS
2026 — CHICO review, USA
2025 — Mochnarte art residency, Poland
2024 — JH Engström workshop, France
2024 — Art Plener in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic
2022 — Art symposium It Was, It Is and It Will Be at Morawa Palace, Poland
2020 — International Art Research Conference “Alliances and Commonalities” at Stockholm University of Art, Sweden
2020 — Kaptaruny art residency, Belarus
Publications:
2026 — Book ‘The Colour Beneath the Grey’, Belgrade 2026
ISBN 978-86-909112-0-2
2026 — Dummy- book ‘Butter melts at 36,6’, Wroclaw 2026
2025 — Book ‘Sorry for the lack of contact’, Poznan 2025
2025 — The Walll Street Journal 'The French Power Player in Charge of Boosting ‘Made in Europe’
2025 — STERN www.stern.de/politik/ausland/ukrainekrieg--im-limbo-zwischen-ankommen-und-aufbruch--35 588 368.html
2024 — Zine 'Betonium', Zinteka, Wroclaw 2024
ISBN 978-83-949 193-9-9
2022 — Publication ‘Zmiana/Change’, Wrocław 2022
ISBN 978-83-67 584-04-3
2022 — Publication “Mój fyrtel/Moja przestrzeń’’, Poznań 2022
ISBN 978-83-961 216-8-4
2022 — Publication “Wystaw się w CSW’’,
Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej “Znaki Czasu”, Toruń 2022
ISBN 978-83-66 475-15-1
2022 — ARTELLS Magazine
2022 — MARIKA Magazine
2021 — Publication “Native’’, ASP we Wrocławiu, 2021
ISBN 978-83-66 321-76-2
2021 — REBEL Magazine
2021 — SELIN Magazine
2021 — Outlast journal “Pinkipsism”
2021 — Republic Magazine “Sisters”
2021 — Kochamwroclaw.pl
2020 — Privatephotoreview Magazine “COVID -Apogee of Artificial”
2020 — Bird in Flight Magazine “Space yard”
2019 — Dodho Magazine “MyMuse”
2019 — Dodho Magazine “I had it All”
2019 — Edge of Photography Magazine “Sisterhood”
2019 — Monovisions magazine “Dreamy World”
2019 —Edge of Photography Magazine “My Make-Believe Village Life”
2019 — The Village “City trace” part 1
The Village “City trace” part 2
2019 — REGNUM UA “I had it All”
2018 — EU Neighbours “Five women who are changing Belarus”
2017 — IMENA Mag “Plush beds”
2017 — IMENA Mag “Again tanchiki”
Commercial photography katarzynakuzmiczewa.com/