Kalina is a Polish-born, London-based filmmaker, photographer, and creative director.
Kalina has been working in the creative industry for the past fourteen years, initially focusing on fashion styling and creative direction. Assisting stylists and creative directors such as Edward Enninful, Karen Langley, and Lucia Liu, to name a few, she developed a strong work ethic and an eye for detail, working across the UK, US, Europe, and Asia on projects with artists such as Frank Ocean, among others. As her career progressed, she became increasingly drawn to storytelling and the magic of working closely with her subjects in a multidisciplinary way, eventually leading her to shift towards lens-based media. Since then, Kalina has shot short films, music videos, press shots, campaigns, lookbooks, and branded content.
Her work explores the spectrum of human emotion within micro and macro communities, highlighting people, places, and scenarios that might otherwise go unnoticed. Social critique, social justice, cultural identity, migration, and mental health are overarching principles and core themes in her practice, often stemming from personal experience, including her diasporic heritage and moments of intimacy within the mundane.
Kalina’s multidisciplinary background allows her to apply her skill set to various project types and media formats, from moving image and photographic work to printed photobooks and, more recently, installation art. Her visual style is defined by a bold and meaningful use of colour and a blend of analogue and digital processes. She often plays with the confines of the frame, be it the literal confines of the camera or the boundaries of the set, firmly grounding her subjects in reality.
Over the past five years, Kalina has focused more on moving image work, with her music videos gaining attention and festival acclaim. Her debut short film Tender Loving Care (2023), portrays the experience of loneliness in a big city through phone conversations between an isolated protagonist and call centre employees. Recent festival circuit highlights include the International Film Festival Molodist Kyiv, Aesthetica Film Festival, and Kurzfilmtage Winterthur. The film was also presented through an expanded cinema exhibition at EXPOSED Torino Foto Festival in Turin, Italy. Drawing on the show, a limited edition photobook was created.
Current and future projects
Kalina is currently working on her first feature documentary, themed around various approaches to love, sense of home and self-expression, through the lens of a young queer community of creatives based in Cape Town, South Africa. She has also recently published a photobook LF5TL GLZ (Lifestyle Goals), an investigation into the relationship between cars, socio-economic status, class and community.
Selected clients
Kalina’s list of clients includes Dazed & Confused, The Fader, The Guardian, Harper’s Bazaar China, Hypebeast, i-D Online, T Magazine, ASOS, Fendi, New Balance, Nike, Reebok, River Island, Selfridges, Vivienne Westwood, Polydor, Universal Music Group, Sony Music and University of the Arts London among others.
