Q&A with Lola Paprocka: photographer, tattoo lover and founder of Palm Studios

Lola Paprocka is the photographer behind books such as Blokovi: Novi Beograd, dedicated to the apartment blocks and residents of New Belgrade, and Tattoo Kids, which playfully combines her love for tattoos with childhood memories of her native Poland. She’s also the founder of Palm Studios, a platform that’s shining light on emerging talent in the field of photography.

Last week Palm celebrated the release of their fourth title Grass Roots by Simon Di Principe— an homage to London’s Hackney Marshes and the footballers that populate it every Sunday morning. From this Friday you can see photos from Paprocka’s Blokovi alongside a project on Mile End by fellow Palm photographer Pani Paul at The NewBridge Project in Newcastle. We caught up with Paprocka ahead of the show to pick her brains about Palm.

What’s your background?
I’m originally from Poland but I moved to London in my late teens, 13 years ago.

Palm Studios encompasses online features, exhibitions, events, and has its own publishing house — how did the idea first come about?
Palm Studios was founded in mid 2015 while I was curating and co-ordinating the Independent Photography Festival in London. After spending some time working on the programme I thought it would be great to have a platform to showcase more independent photography and continue to support up-and-coming artists.

I’m a self-taught photographer and had been self-publishing for a few years already and it was just a case of taking it to the next level. I got great feedback from the first couple of books which has encouraged me to expand and offer curation/art direction and production services to other photographers.

You have an international reach in terms of the photographers you work with. How do you select the photographers, and what do you look for?
I originally started by contacting and showcasing photographer friends of mine, who happen to be globally spread out. Now if I see something that resonates with me I’ll just reach out to the artist directly.

What can we expect from Palm Studios in the near future?
I would love to curate more shows and after appearing at our first book fair, Offprint at Tate, earlier this year, I would like to continue to attend more international events and book fairs. I’m also working on expanding the program for IPF LDN, 2017 and of course publishing more books!

Do you accept submissions?
I’m always interested to see new work! So, yes, definitely open for submissions.

See Lola Paprocka and Pani Paul’s work from 9 — 30 September at The NewBridge Project, Newcastle, and check out Palm’s online bookstore.
Blokovi: Novi Beograd and Tattoo Kids are also available for purchase at Calvert 22 Bookshop in London.