Slawomir Elsner

SOS-Edition 2011
20 original coloured pencil drawings
15 × 21 cm
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Slawomir Elsner was born in Wodzislaw, Poland, in 1976. He studied free arts at the Kunsthochschule Kassel in Germany from 1995 to 2002.
He was awarded the Cusanuswerk scholarship from 1999 to 2002.
Since 2001 he has been a master student of Norbert Radermacher.
In 2001 he got the first prize at the Starshots photo competition of the Deutscher Investment Trust. In 2003 he was awardee of the Marburger Kunstverein with “Selbst im weitesten Sinne”. 2004 saw him receiving the scholarship Junge Kunst in Essen, Germany.
Photographs either sourced from newspapers or taken by the artist himself often serve as the base of the work. Especially in the early works, the artist reflects the media’s use of pictures as visual facts. He finds motives that become distorted through the act of a transfer and when taken out of the context. The viewer is mystified. The intention is to depict the autonomy of the visual world as well as its power to deform.

His pictures can be seen in major international collections and museums, including the Museum der Moderne in Salzburg, Austria, the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Germany as well as in the well-received exhibition “Made in Germany” at the Sprengel Museum of the Kestnergesellschaft in Hanover, Germany.
In Berlin, he is represented by the Johnen Gallery and the Gebrüder Lehmann Gallery.
In November 2011 he had a solo exhibition at the Marburger Kunstverein.
Currently, he is represented at the exhibition “Polish!” at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin. Slawomir Elsner now lives and works in Berlin.

SOS Family Assistance in Poland

Hermann Gmeiner first initiated contact with the Polish government in 1977, thereby laying the foundations for the work of the SOS Children’s Villages in Poland.

Now there are nurseries, youth facilities, transition homes and centres as well as four SOS Children’s Villages. The SOS Children’s Villages supports the people of the surrounding communities and contributes to the strengthening of the social structures.

Since 2009, the SOS Family Assistance has offered extensive support to the socially disadvantaged and needy families in order to ensure that children can stay with their families. Individual measures are taken in order to make the parents able to independently take care of their children and to provide them with the best possible care.

The SOS social workers help the parents with the job search and the handling of family issues. Social workers and parents working in tandem ensure structured daily routines, enabling the children to continue going to school. The schedules of children and adolescents include individual tuition, support with homework and common leisure activities. The goal is to help parents help themselves so that they can autonomously offer their children future prospects.