Agnieszka Sosnowska’s first monograph, För, offers a heartfelt glimpse into the artist’s life and community in a secluded part of East Iceland. Born in Poland and raised in Boston, Sosnowska grew up navigating between two distinct cultures, never feeling entirely Polish or American.
For a long time, Agnieszka Sosnowska believed that photographs merely showed viewers what the world looked like. It wasn’t until her college years that she discovered a photograph could tell a story. While studying photography at Massachusetts College of Art, she began a series of self-portraits that now span 25 years, starting at the age of 18. These self-portraits helped her better understand herself and her aspirations. She continues to create these self-portraits, now in a new setting: in 2005, she married an Icelander and moved to a farm in eastern Iceland.
In Iceland, the landscape and weather are constantly changing. Age and decay create a surreal world of rituals that may seem unappealing or grotesque. The rituals of farming and hunting are slow, deliberate, and labor-intensive. Activities like fishing, hunting, planting, and gathering are considered pastimes for many in the developed world. The pace of farming is slow, dictated by nature, economy, and sheer will. To Sosnowska, farming is a physical manifestation of human determination. A farmer’s efforts are uncertain; such a life choice seems noble. The effects of a cross-cultural life inspire the characters she creates. In Iceland—a culture steeped in ancient sagas and myths of elves living inside rocks—she hears many voices that come to life. Her adult experiences have shaped her sensibility, allowing her to expose the hidden world of stories nurtured within her mind. As a woman, she interprets these cultural stories in a primal and sensual way, embodying what is sometimes ordinary, sometimes purely feminine, and sometimes supernatural, seeking to make private images public.
She uses a 4×5 view camera to create her images. From beneath her dark cloth, she composes the edges of a story that reveals her inclusion in a place. Her photographs are the language that connects her to truths deep within herself. In that split second when the lens shutter clicks, fantasy and reality become one.

Set against the backdrop of the harsh yet beautiful Nordic landscape, För is a book filled with gratitude and love, depicting a journey of finding home and a chosen family that endures through the seasons of life.