Moving deftly between limitations and possibilities is where the work of Kuba Ryniewicz thrives. His photographs, which investigate the relationship between people and their environment, speak at once of the challenges of everyday life while asserting that the only way to survive them is to embrace joy.

Ryniewicz makes poetry out of contradictions: freedom and restriction, optimism and pragmatism, pleasure and pain. The great potential of his practice is to unpack complex and nuanced issues. His work is a proposition – how do practices of care allow us to co-curate new possibilities?

From a young age, Ryniewicz’s life has been shaped by the notion of nurture. Ryniewicz grew up in Puszczykowo, a town in Poland’s Wielkopolski National Park, working on his grandmother’s chrysanthemum farm while learning how to make photographic prints in his uncle’s darkroom.

“There was a lot of time, and space was unlimited,” says Ryniewicz. “Gardening and photography were always concurrent practices. Even now, If I’m not photographing, then I’m gardening. I like the idea of gardening as a reset. It’s something I’m really invested in. I don’t like to have an agenda, but I love the natural schedule of the garden. Like photography, gardening is about time, space and rhythm.”