Ewa Monika Zebrowski is a Montreal-based photographer and a poet.
Her photographs and artist’s books touch on themes of displacement and memory, place and time, traces. She creates visual narratives often inspired by art and literature, sometimes collaborating with writers and poets, sometimes including her own poems or text.
She worked in the film industry for seventeen years before obtaining a BFA in Fine Arts and an MA in Visual Arts, having previously completed a degree in English Literature. She speaks Polish, English, French and Italian.
Zebrowski has had forty solo exhibitions and produced twenty-five artist’s books. Her work can be found in many museum and institutional collections in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark and Australia including MoMA, the Getty Research Institute, the Menil Collection, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Farnsworth Museum, the Tate Britain, National Gallery of Art Washington D.C., Columbia University, Yale University, Stanford University, the National Poetry Library London, McGill University among others.
Since 2012, the celebrated artist Cy Twombly has been a main inspiration for her work.
In 2023 she published I NEVER KNEW CY TWOBLY, Bassano in Teverina with Nearest Truth Editions.
Collections
Museums
Art Gallery of Ontario; Art Institute of Chicago; Canadian Centre for Architecture; Farnsworth Art Museum; McCord Museum; Menil Collection; Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal; Museum of Fine Arts Houston; Museum of Modern Art New York (MoMA); National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; National Museum of Women in the Arts; Phoenix Art Museum; Tate Britain
Colleges & Universities
Bowdoin College, Brown University, Columbia University, Connecticut College, Harvard University, Lafayette College, McGill University, Middlebury College, Mills College, Occidental College, Princeton University, Savannah College of Art & Design, Smith College, Stanford University, Swarthmore College, Texas Tech University, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Université de Montréal, University of Arizona, University of California at Berkeley, University of Iowa, University of Pennsylvania, University of the South, University of Toronto, University of Tulsa, University of Utah, University of Washington, Washington and Lee University, Wellesley College, Yale University
Libraries
Bibliothèque Gabrielle-Bernard-Dubé, Carleton-sur-mer, Gaspé, Québec; Bibliothèque nationale de France; Bibliothèque de Photographie d’Arles; Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec; Civitella Ranieri Foundation; Getty Research Institute; Library of Congress; National Library of Canada; The National Poetry Library London; Toronto Public Library; Wyeth Study Center
Cultural Centers
American Academy in Rome; Banff Centre; Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Middlebury College, Vermont; Center for Book Arts, New York; Cirque du Soleil; Cy Twombly Foundation; Hellenic Centre for Photography Athens; Kalopsia Collective, UK; McGill University Hospital Centre, Montréal
Residencies
2023 Reford Gardens, Métis-sur-Mer, Québec
2018 American Academy in Rome
2017 Emily Harvey Foundation, Venice
2016 Hauser & Wirth Somerset
2014 American Academy in Rome
Invited Lectures
2024 on the shore: collection images in search of Anna Louis Dawson, Reford Gardens, Grand-Métis, Québec
2022 a fragile landscape, Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie, New Richmond, Québec; Art Break: Musings on Cy Twombly, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California (online)
2017 The Olson House as Photographers’ Muse, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine
2016 twombly, italia, an artist’s book, Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Bruton, Somerset, UK; twombly, italia, an artist’s book, Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
2012 Displacement & Memory, Opening presentation for Les Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie, Marsoui, Québec; Book Life, Keynote Speaker, Doverodde Book Arts Festival, Hurup Thy, Denmark; Book Life, FotoFest, O’Kane Gallery, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA; Photographing Venice, A City in Peril, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania
2010 Book Life, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
2009 Venezia. . . Un Percorso nel tempo, Dawson College, Montréal, Québec
2007 A Circle Of Poets, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial University, Corner Brook, Newfoundland
2006 Un Circolo di Poeti, Galleria Grazia Neri, Milan, Italy; remembering brodsky, Concordia University, Design Department, Montréal, Québec
2001 About My Work, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec
Artist’s Books
2023 I NEVER KNEW CY TWOMBLY, Bassano in Teverina [Nearest Truth Editions, trade edition]
2022 fuori tempo (out of time) [introduction: Michael Collier / edition of 20], now & beyond [edition of 20]
2020 van gogh’s bed [poem: Anne Michaels / edition of 20], I NEVER KNEW CY TWOMBLY: XX POEMS [edition of 20]
2019 The White Sculptures [edition of 20]
2018 LA MIA STANZA [edition of 20], at the window [edition of 20]
2017 24 Hours in Somerset. A Winter’s Tale [edition of 30], a bouquet for cy [edition of 20]
2015 twombly, italia [edition of 70]
2013 LYDIA’S PORCELAIN [edition of 20]
2012 Finding Wyeth [edition of 20], For Jadwiga [edition of 7]
2011 END OF BEAUTY [edition of 20], Sea of Lanterns [poem: Anne Michaels / edition of 20]
2008 tenuta di ricordi [text: Pascale Quiviger / edition of 20]
2007 Another Place [poem: Mark Strand / edition of 20]
2006 vedute di venezia [essay: Theodore K. Rabb / edition of 50], Poetry in the Landscape.
The Robert Frost Trail [poem: Robert Frost / edition of 20]
2004 remembering brodsky [endnote: Mark Strand / edition of 20]
2002 remembering & forgetting / ricordare & dimenticare [edition of 2], my mother . . . myself [edition of 2]
2001 My Mother Was There . . . (Blanc de mémoire) [edition of 3]
Broadsides
2022 HORSE & RIDER, READING THE HORIZON: remembering Rodney Graham
2015 For Mark [poem: Anne Michaels]
2005 albergo
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024 La lumiere et la brume / Light and Fog, Reford Gardens, Grand-Métis, Québec
2023 An Unending Conversation with Cy Twombly, Luisa Cevese Riedizioni, Milan, Italy
2022 a fragile landscape, Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie, New Richmond, Québec
2021 Cy Twombly, poetry and remembrance, Menil Bookstore, Menil Collection, Houston, Texas; a tangled time (Temps Troubles), Occurrence: espace d’art et d’essai contemporain, Montréal, Québec
2020 Cy Twombly, The White Sculptures, Menil Bookstore, Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
2019 Poetry, discovered and the work of Cy Twombly, Occidental College, Los Angeles, California; Celebration of Place: Chateaufort Community Garden, McGill University, Montréal, Québec; Bequest, 200 Statues, ONEROOM Books, Rome, Italy
2018 In the garden, Cy Twombly, ONEROOM Books, Rome, Italy; Small Miracles, McGill University Hospital Center, Montréal, Québec
2017 Cy Twombly, Bassano in Teverina, Corden/Potts Gallery, San Francisco, California
2015 twombly, italia, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy; LANGUAGE OF MEMORY, Intimate Time, PhotoVisa Internationl Festival of Photography, Krasnodar, Russia; Ewa Monika Zebrowski: Seven Artist’s Books, McGill University, Montréal, Québec; Sea of Lanterns, Corden/Potts Gallery, San Francisco, California
2014 Finding Wyeth, Anne Henning Gallery, Duxbury, Massachusetts; END OF BEAUTY, Galerie Trois Points, Montréal, Québec
2013 Finding Wyeth, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Finding Wyeth, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania
2012 Pont Champlain, Montréal – Points de vue, McCord Museum, Montréal, Québec; en passant, Art Mûr, Montréal, Québec; UNRAVELING, the dress of Jadwiga, Les Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie, Marsoui, Québec; remembering brodsky, O’Kane Gallery, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, FotoFest 2012
2011 Venice, unframed, Duncan Ross Associates, Montréal, Québec; of time, lost, Art Mûr, Montréal, Québec; vedute di venezia, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania
2009 UNRAVELING, the dress of Jadwiga, Art Mûr, Montréal, Québec
2007 vedute di venezia, Côte St. Luc Library, Montréal, Québec; vedute di venezia, Art Mûr, Montréal, Québec
2006 Un Circolo di Poeti, Galleria Grazia Neri, Milano, Italy
2005 albergo, Maison de la Culture Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montréal, Québec
2004 remembering brodsky, Art Mûr, Montréal, Québec
2003 at the window, Usine C, Montréal, Québec
2002 remembering & forgetting, Art Mûr, Montréal, Québec
2001 Celebration of Place: Chateaufort Community Garden, Maison de la Culture Côte-des-Neiges, Montréal, Québec, Mois de la Photo
1999 A Landscape in Transformation, Ecocentre Saint-Michel, Montréal, Québec, Mois de la Photo; Building the Arch, commissioned by Cirque du Soleil on the occasion of the construction of the red sandstone arch created by British artist Andy Goldsworthy, Montréal, Québec
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 d’un seul souffle/in a single breath, Artexte, Montréal, Québec; I have promises to keep: Rethinking Photography in Times of Trouble, [now & beyond], LIANZHOUFOTO, Lianzhou, China
2020 The Lives and Loves of Images, All Art is Photography [bassano in teverina], Biennale fur aktuelle Fotografie, Mannheim, Germany
2019 ON THE SHELF, Corden/Potts Gallery, San Francisco, California; PICTURE BOOK: The Photographer’s Book [Postcards], Corden/Potts Gallery, San Francisco, California; Artists’ Books: Focus on Photography [Sea of Lanterns], University of Arizona Poetry Center, Tucson, Arizona
2017 Photography and The Artist Book: First Edition, Fall Line Press Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia; Athens Photo Festival, Photo Book Exhibition [twombly, italia], Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece; The Olson House: The Photographers’ Muse, Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, Maine
2016 In the BRUT Midwinter, Bruton Art Factory, Bruton, United Kingdom; Livres et autres mots d’artistes, Galerie Eric Devlin, Montréal, Québec; ReView, Corden/Potts Gallery, San Francisco, California; PMG EDITIONS, 10 ANS [la fenice & constellation], Patrick Mikhail Gallery, Montréal, Québec
2015 Le Livre Photographique au Québec, LIBRARIE FORMATS, Montréal, Québec, Mois de la Photo; Le Livre Photographique, Les Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie, Gaspé, Québec; Athens Photo Festival, Photo Book Exhibition [Finding Wyeth], Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
2014 Quietude, Corden/Potts Gallery, San Francisco, California; Livre d’Artiste d’Aujourd’hui: Inderdisciplinary Collaborations, The Center for Book Arts, New York, NY & Galleries of Art + Design, Miami Dade College, Miami, Florida; Les Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie, Gaspé, Québec; LA BEAUTE DU GESTE, Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Québec; Turn the Page, International Book Festival, Kalopsia Collective & The Norfolk Long Book, Norwich, England
2013 Octavo Fika: Narrative, Kalopsia Collective, Book Week Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland; Under the Wings of Artemis: Scholars, Artists and the Places Between, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; A Death Greatly Exaggerated: Canada’s Thriving Small and Fine Press, University of Toronto, Ontario; Photo Book Works [Finding Wyeth], ABECEDARIAN GALLERY, Denver, Colorado
2012 On the Margins, Doverodde Book Arts Festival, Hurup Thy, Denmark; COLLECTIONER, Centre Culturel de Verdun, Montréal, Québec; Les Impatients, Loto-Québec, Montréal, Québec; PMG EDITIONS [Versailles Suite], Patrick Mikhail Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario; La Collection selon…Les Impatients, Espace Creation Loto-Québec, Montréal, Québec; Near & Far, Gallery On The Lane, Brisbane, Australia
2011 Third Sheffield International Artist’s Book Exhibition, Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, United Kingdom; Artbound, Gallery Red, Sydney, Australia; Multiple, Limited, Unique Selections, The Center for Book Arts, New York, New York; The Photograph Un(framed),The Center for Book Arts, New York, New York; Center Forward, Denver International Airport, Denver, Colorado; Hope, Photographers Network, Siegen, Germany; In the Air, Doverodde Book Arts Festival, Hurup Thy, Denmark; Blue, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, Colorado
2010 Hantise, Art Mûr, Montréal, Québec; Book Dummies [tenuta di ricordi selected for exhibition], Fotobook Festival, Kassel, Germany; BED TWO, Umbrella Arts, New York, New York; The Story is the Thing, Act Writers Center, Canberra, Australia; Place of Interest, Doverodde Book Arts Festival, Hurup Thy, Denmark; RED, The Center for Fine Art Photograph, Fort Collins, Colorado; Beyond Books, Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, Connecticut
2009 It’s Still Life, Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco, California; BED, Umbrella Arts, New York, New York; Small Works, 80 Washington Square East Galleries, NYU, New York
2008 The Invisible Age, Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco, California; Small Works, 80 Washington Square East Galleries, NYU, New York; In Celebration of Phyllis, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal, Québec
Education
2003 M.A. Arts Visuels et Médiatiques, UQAM, Montréal, Québec
2001 B.F.A. Photography, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec
1975 Minor in Cinema, History of Art Department, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec
1969 B.A. English, Occidental College, Los Angeles California