Fitting Rooms,
Karolina Gembara

Fitting Rooms,
Karolina Gembara

Looking for lives that she wanted to ‘try on’, Karolina Gembara had one condition: stability. A husband/wife, a relationship, kids, dogs, cats, a house, an apartment, a mortgage. A home. Not necessarily all at one time, or in that order, but some configuration of them. Age: plus/minus 30. Polish.

From a background of living out of a suitcase, transiting through the homes of friends and family, changing continents every couple of months, and curious for what could have been, Gembara invited herself in to the homes of women whose life could have been hers was she born, raised and educated in similar circumstances. The women then photographed her with their own children, husbands, belongings and within their own domestic setting.

“For just as long as it took to shoot one or two rolls of film, and on those very rolls of film, I became her. Or rather I made an attempt to. Sometimes the dream cut does not suit us perfectly.”