TITLE: Trapped in virtual reality

The series Trapped in virtual reality touch the subject of overlapping real and virtual dimensions. And this is about risk of dominating us by virtual reality.

These images were taken directly in the camera, without any post-production. In the real scenes, played by a girl in real-time, previously prepared grids were projected to create the impression of being imprisoned and dissolved.

This series of photographs were prepared to convey a sense beeing disolved when we spend our lives in a front of screen without contact with the reality.

AUTHOR: Arek Akki (Poland)

The human body plays a significant role in my photography.
I am interested in themes such as bodily discomfort, tense relationships with the environment, memory and recollection, the search for anonymity, loneliness, and alienation. I work with monochromatic analogue techniques — medium format film and wet plate collodion.

akki.pl
Instagram: akki_monochrome


Latest exhibitions
In 2024–2025, his collodion works were presented in solo exhibitions:
2024 – Solitude, Alienation, Imprisonment – MBWA Gallery, Leszno
2025 – Memory, Body, Relations – CAL “Na Przedmieściu” Gallery, Wrocław
2025 – Depressions – Photography Gallery, Świdnica

Latest awards
B&W International Awards 2026, Analog category – 1st Prize
IPA Awards 2025, Analog/Film, Fine Art category – 1st Prize
Monovisions Awards 2025, Nudes category – Passivity (series), 3rd Place Award
ND Awards 2024, Analog/Film category – Unwanted Memories, 3rd Place and Bronze Award
ND Awards 2023, Nudes category – Morning After, 3rd Place and Bronze Award
ND Awards 2022, Nude category – Deadnames (series), 1st Place and Gold Star Award
Monochrome Awards 2022, Nudes category – Forest Girl, 1st Prize

He graduated from the University of the Arts in Poznań, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in 2000, specializing in pinhole photography.