Anna Myszkowiak

A central thread in her practice is the exploration of personal experience, including living with atopic dermatitis and observing her own presence in the world. These experiences become points of departure for reflections on discomfort, wonder and the body. Her works — sculptures, installations and drawings — emerge from intense impressions or moments of reflection, often inhabiting a field of ambivalence that evokes both unease and fascination.

The artist’s practice is informed by a rich network of cultural references, drawing on literature, poetry and music as integral elements of her work. The titles of her pieces often originate in literary texts or musical compositions, introducing an additional semantic dimension. One example is the sculpture Jestem, a trochę mnie nie ma (I Am, Yet Partly Absent), whose title is taken from mięsień, a song by Joanna Longić (Tęskno). Its visual structure also draws on musical terminology, translating the contrast between loud and muted into visual terms through the relationship between the front and reverse sides of the work.

Myszkowiak places considerable emphasis on craft as a space for experimentation and a vehicle for meaning. Sculptural matter is not merely raw material to be shaped into objects, but a medium in its own right. She seeks the most appropriate method for each subject, a process that often leads her to discover new techniques while setting aside those she has already mastered. She weaves with metal, sews with paper and frays wood. These gestures appear both necessary and integral to her works, significantly shaping their sensory qualities and intuitive reception.