/ Halit
The Halit series comprises medium-format analogue photographs taken with a Mamiya 645 camera. The images show halite crystals from Inowrocław, part of the geological collection of the Museum of the Earth, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Working with the museum’s archive, Franek Wardyński photographed the crystals as distinct forms, rather than specimens, focusing on their fragile surfaces, fractures, and the play of light.
The crystals come from a region where salt mining once defined local life but has since disappeared. The project reflects on this loss and the passing of material history.
The crystals come from a region where salt mining once defined local life but has since disappeared. The project reflects on this loss and the passing of material history.
Wardyński’s approach is informed by Robert Smithson’s reflections on entropy and geological time, as well as J. G. Ballard’s novel The Crystal World, in which crystallisation becomes a way of thinking about transformation and suspension. These influences shape the quiet tone of the series, where photography becomes another form of sedimentation.
The work was created for the solo exhibition SÓL at the Museum of the Earth, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, 2025.
The work was created for the solo exhibition SÓL at the Museum of the Earth, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, 2025.