Izabela Pluta

Izabela Pluta is an Australian artist born in Poland, now based in Sydney. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Photography) from the University of Newcastle and a Doctorate from the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Pluta’s art practice is rooted in conceptual photography, often using camera-less processes, found images, and installations to question the boundaries between images and objects. Her works explore ideas of impermanence, displacement, and the instability of meaning, engaging with the politics of place, remnants, and memory. She combines analogue and digital photographic techniques, photomontage, and layered materials to reveal subtle shifts and temporalities in familiar environments. There is a recurring interest in mapping, translation, and how photographic images interact with fragments of the world. Emphasizing materiality, Pluta frequently employs methods such as multiples, folding, and re-presentation to challenge how images are perceived and reinterpreted. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artspace Sydney, and the National Gallery of Victoria. Pluta is a recipient of significant awards such as the National Photographic Portrait Prize and has undertaken prestigious residencies like the Australia Council Projektraum in Berlin. Her projects have featured in major survey exhibitions, underscoring her impact within contemporary Australian photography.