Devon Stackonis

Incredible week spent with and . We arranged an exhibition of Evan's prints at the Concrete Gallery at Akademia Sztuk Pięknych we Wrocławiu (9 more days to visit the show there) and Evan also gave a wonderful artist talk. The tube of prints was held by customs in Warsaw for close to a month, arriving at the academy exactly 1 hour before we picked Evan and John up from the airport. By the grace of the print gods, this exhibition happened! Huge thanks to Konrad for all of the install and logistics help. It all came together. ✨😅

After the exhibition and some exploring in Wrocław, we traveled to Białystok, where Evan's grandparents lived in neighboring villages, Goniądz and Brańsk. It was so meaningful to visit these places with him. Also made it out to Białowieża for the European Bison Reserve. Fantastic trip! Wishing them safe travels as they continue on to Germany today.

Honored to have my book FLOOD WATCH included in the smART26 Polish Doctoral School Exhibition. Here are some photos from the installation and opening Friday afternoon at the Neon Gallery.

The exhibition presents the achievements of doctoral students from three doctoral schools at Polish art universities: the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, and the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław.

The exhibition aims to highlight the research aspects of the creative process that led to the creation of individual doctoral works. Each work presented in the exhibition is accompanied by a poster that concisely outlines the project's main research and artistic goals, its theoretical foundation, and a description of the methods, technological solutions, and workshop used. Furthermore, the authors outline the project's expected artistic and cognitive outcomes, its innovative nature, and its anticipated impact on the development of the discipline.

Exhibition participants:

Karol Drobniewski, Konrad Fleszar, Stefan Kornacki, Jan Kowal, Dominika Kulczyńska, Yulia Krivich, Antonina Lorek, Agnieszka Leszczyńska-Mieczkowska, Urszula Lucińska, Anna Nowak-Kacprzak, Adela Rostek, Andranik Sahakyan, Devon Stackonis, Aleksandra Szlęk, Ewa Szlachetka-Depak, Michał Wasiak

Curator: Jakub Jernajczyk

Coordinators: Konrad Fleszar (Krakow), Stefan Kornacki (Gdańsk), Aleksandra Szlęk (Wrocław) Visual identity: Radosław Łukasiewicz, Aleksandra Szlęk

FLOOD WATCH is an edition of 40 By Devon Stackonis, 2026

Printed at The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design and Galeria Miejska Pracownia in Wrocław, Poland

Created in response to witnessing significant regional flooding in Lower Silesia and acknowledging the drastic increase in global flood activity due to climate change. In 1997 the city of Wrocław and surrounding areas were devastated by major flooding along the Odra River. In the years following this tragedy, flood protection infrastructure was increased in this vulnerable, low-lying region. The 1997 event was referred to as the "Flood of the Millennium," however within 30 years, the region was threatened by another of this scale, the week I arrived in Poland in September of 2024. Also inspired by the movement in Poland of acquiring autonomous legal rights for the river (rzeka, she 💙) , to protect her from mining pollutants and waste. The imagery is drawn from infrastructure observed during walks along the northernmost deviation of the Odra in Wrocław, where the river is heavily monitored by way of weirs, locks, and dams.

The historic Zerkall-Buetten Paper Mill in Germany suffered catastrophic flooding in July 2021, which severely damaged its machinery, leading to the permanent closure of its paper production. This edition is printed on deadstock Zerkall mould-made paper, the remaining supply after the 2021 flood. Text printed with anastatic transfer on Hahnemühle. Etching, mezzotint, aquatint, spit bite, anastatic printing.

Thank you to my Doctoral Promoter, prof. Christopher Nowicki. Additional thanks to Walter Rindone and Marta Kubiak at Galeria Miejska Pracownia, and everyone else who made this book possible!