"I’m always looking for architecture at the edges, the vernacular structures, the immediate need buildings, and homes that bridge cultural stereotypes and identity. As an immigrant, I’m drawn to the challenge of illustrating the connection between personal definitions of home and the definition of self. By questioning the transformative qualities of location and geography, I’m attempting to find my own place in a world with far more porous borders than the one I grew up in and in doing so define my own hybrid identity." - Magda Biernat
Magda Biernat was born in 1978and raised in Poznan, Poland. In 2002, after earning her Masters in Marketing and Management from Adam Mickiewicz University and her BFA in Photography from Wielkopolska School of Photography, Biernat moved to the United States and eventually settled in New York City.
Biernat served as Communications and Web Manager at Magnum Photos. During her tenure at Magnum, Biernat workedwith and befriended many prominent photographers, including Elliott Erwitt, Philip Jones Griffith, Paul Fusco, Bruce Gilden, and Alec Soth. With their guidance and encouragement, Biernat turned to her interest in architecture and began photographing commercially for architectural firms and design studios. In 2005, Biernat split her time between Magnum Photos and the New York based architectural and design publication, Metropolis Magazine,where she worked a sphoto editor. Biernat’s commercial work received has been published inThe New Yorker, Interior Design, Wallpaper, and MetropolisMagazine, to name a few.
"I find built spaces really interesting, whatever their uses. They reflect so much about us as people." - Magda Biernat
In 2007, Biernat and her husband embarked on a year long trip around the world. Visiting more than 17 countries, Biernat worked on personal projects concerning urban landscape and habitat. The resulting body of work, entitled Continental Bounce, was exhibited in New York and Paris and received publicity worldwide with features in such publications as The New York Times, New York Magazine, Dwell Magazine, European Photography, Le Journal de la Photographie, Vogue Korea, and Noovo.
In 2011, Biernat earned an MFA in New Media from Transart Institute. In 2013, she and her husband set out on another year long excursion, this time from Antarctica to Alaska. The couple’s chronicle of their journey, called North Via South, was published by The New Yorker’s Photo Booth.
Since 2001, Biernat’s work has been exhibited in Poland, Belgium, France, Canada, the Philippines, Taiwan, and the United States. She is a recipient of awards from the Lucie Foundation, the Magenta Foundation, the Melina Mercouri Foundation, and the Eastman Kodak Company. Biernat lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.