Winter can be both magical and sad, breathtakingly beautiful and melancholic, uplifting and decadent. It holds the power to make the time stand still, but at the same time builds infinity bridges in between worlds. Photographer Marta Moosiatko Streng turned snow into a “suicidal marathon of positive thoughts”, seeking lost answers and pursuing the long road towards spring together with model Weronika Potocka.

Drawing inspiration from Shirin Neshat’s visually contrasting work of art, a sum of black and white photographs, famous for their powerful hidden messages and symbolic undertones, Marta Gorczyca designed her own take on duality for autumn / winter 2013, following into the same path of conflicting realities. “Therefore, leather is combined with satin and silk. Every outfit includes natural leather to a larger or smaller extent.…

Coldness is representative of emptiness. The snow-dusted road in Marta Streng’s shoot Everything Is Illuminated is metaphorical of that frosty heart, the styling by Ciuchosza a mix of hardness and vulnerability manifest in motorcycle boots and tulle dresses. And then, breaking down the icy barriers, a butterfly and a green bow; life anew amidst the snow.

Without struggle there is no progress. Marta Streng’s latest photoshoot, They Don’t Care About Us, is something of an artistic representation of the fact. At least, as far as I can interpret it. In the opening scenes the model is lying alone on a summit, holding a bunch of wildflowers close to her chest. Covered in a fine white silt, she’s like an object left…

There’s one shot in Marta Streng‘s latest shoot that reminds me, for some reason or maybe no reason at all, of Audrey Hepburn at the end of Breakfast At Tiffany’s. It’s the look of concern mixed with distress, of defiance mixed with resignation, that frantically flashes across her face when she’s looking for Cat in the pouring rain. It’s concern over Cat’s welfare, but more…

Youth: so full of hubris, lust for life, the understanding of mortality overwritten by the feeling of invincibility. No matter how much you try and lock youth up, it will always strain against the cage’s wires, desperate to be free, searching for some way to fearlessly experiment with life in the process of finding itself. So Lock the Kids Up Safe Tonight by Marta Streng…

Shot as the last days of autumn heat succumbed to winter, this shoot by Marta Streng has two protagonists: model Aleksandra Prytula, and the setting sun. The former poses in outfits styled by Ann Mikitiuk that mix tough and feminine, leather and tulle, sheer and opaque; each standing out for its avant-garde edge. The latter casts its orange glow beautifully across every frame.

The onset of spring and two people experiencing loneliness interlaced with longing. Those are quoted by Polish photographer Marta Streng as fragments of the story behind her shoot Walk of Your Heart. Beautifully stylised and richly coloured, the photos have a vintage veneer that compliments the Colonial-esque styling. Life imitates art in one picture that recalls Grant Wood’s famous painting American Gothic which features a…