About me
Raw Flow is my attempt to tame fear, grasp and
understand entropy.
I'm looking for the shape of my own order. I present these efforts in raw textures, degrading
forms. But I also resist disintegration by focusing on
the emerging skeleton of the structure and then
trying to pause the moment of birth.
As a result, Raw Flow is a sense of agency,
freedom, and strength, which I want to share with
you.
I graduated the High School of Arts and Crafts, after which i have jeweler diploma defended with a grade of 6 (highest possible grade).
I also graduated University at the Institute of Art Education in the sculpture studio of Maciej Zychowicz and Grzegorz Gwiazda. Diploma with honors, first place in the dean's competition for the best master's thesis of the year.
Why RAW FLOW?
RAW refers to the physical sphere. The first pieces of jewelry that I created in jewelry high school (1998 - 2002) I gave raw textures and non-obvious forms. I left file marks, scratches, applied oxidation unevenly. Perfectly smooth, symmetrical, small jewelry was too boring for me. I was looking for a way to break this boredom, something that would stir my emotions, something that would give me pleasure while creating.
FLOW refers to the intangible sphere, emotions accompanying creation.
*The creator of the flow theory is Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, a Hungarian psychologist.
After finishing school, I stopped making jewelry. I studied several subjects (including physics, sociology, pedagogy with kinesitherapy) and tried to find my place in other professions.
At the age of 29, I went to art therapy studies, and there I ended up in a sculpture studio. Again, my love for raw textures and large forms made itself felt. It became clear to me that I had to create, that I was suffocating without it. So I combined my two loves - jewelry and sculpture. This is how RAW FLOW was created, my emotions, my experiences, my fascinations recorded in raw jewelry forms.
Sing.
The symbol I use to sign my jewelry, a triangle with a dot, is a simplified symbol of a shelter. Just as armor strengthens and provides security, so too does this symbol evoke a sense of safety. Sometimes the symbol is easily visible, while other times it is hidden, carved into the details of the jewelry.
Finger rings.
Half a year before I returned to creating jewelry, I went to Indonesia with my husband. I was bitten by a monkey in the Monkey Forest. I take full blame for the incident, although I think the monkey also thought it was a mistake, because it was clearly embarrassed. We parted ways in peace.
Within 5 minutes of walking to the medical point, my finger had swelled up incredibly, the flesh popping out. Various thoughts raced through my mind, including the potential loss of my finger. It was hard to believe from the way it looked that it would return to its original shape. I began to think, what if? "Oh well, I'll make myself a fake finger out of silver, or several, and I'll be able to change them. It'll be fun!"
At the medical center, I was treated, given antibiotics, and entered my details into a large book of bites (it really does exist, and I was the umpteenth person to sign in that day). The finger healed within a few days, and the idea for an artificial overlay stuck in my head. The first ring finger appeared about a year and a half later.
In their form I feel closest to the art of Claude Lalanne and the fingers of the mummies from Ancient Egypt.
Below are some of the first finger rings:
Fingers inspired by religious artifacts.
I started making the first ones when my mother was dying of cancer. In the moments between taking care of her, I obsessively carved finger after finger and combined them with stones. Creating helped me not to go crazy, it gave me strength. A body made of metal does not suffer, it is more stronger.
A few months later, magic happened! Mr. Y, who works with incredible, prized jewelry on a daily basis, has an impressive knowledge and feel for the subject, wrote to me about my rings! I jumped for joy! At first I couldn't believe it. After months of terrible experiences, something I had never dreamed of happened. It gave me more strength, self-confidence, fulfillment. Thank you Mr. Y!
Rings wrinkle armor.
It's a vision of skin fused with armor, gaining strength with the experience that comes with age. It's a positive view of aging and drawing from the passage of time. It is resilience, wisdom, acceptance, peace - armor.
The first forms were very raw, simple, made of broken metal and wire. Over time, they evolved into more organic, softer, friendlier ones.
Initially, I referred to Kel Tamasheq (Tuareg) and Ethiopian jewelry with my forms. Privately, I have a lot of jewelry from these cultures.
Looking further for references in contemporary culture, I came across Michele Lamy and Iris Apfel. They were perfect! The first one exuded strength, self-confidence and wore rings that looked like wrinkles. She was like armor! The second one smiled, hung with tons of colors. She was warmth, acceptance. Both became symbolic for me.
Below one of the first wrinkle rings:
I see You - face fragments
It's quite an emotionally complicated project that I'm still working on. It starts in my family history, a few generations back. It's a story about losing everything and building a new life. It's an awareness of historical consequences, generational traumas, being born into a communist system, studying in a brutal education system, finding myself and fighting for the right to do so.
I see myself, my family in the project. I arrange and connect the face fragments in my own way, I change their quantity, size, I give them forms and textures depending on my mood. Everything has to be on my terms. There are emotional and physical parts of me in this. I sculpted the nose and mouth looking in the mirror, the ear looking at my husband's ear, the eyes were initially closed, later they became unreal, they are an interpretation of themselves, what and how they want to see.
I found inspiration in the work of Anna Coleman creating facial prosthetics for wounded soldiers, and in the art created by the collaboration between Elsa Shaparelli and Salvador Dalí, Buddhist and Hindu culture. I started working on the project in 2021, and I am still developing it.
I sculpted the first versions in clay (black and white photos):
Insects.
Insect rings, including the most important dragonfly rings, fell out of the I see You theme. The idea came when my grandfather started getting sick. They are a mix of experiences:
1. One of the most beautiful memories from my childhood, a mountain trip with my grandfather on St. John's Night to the Fireflies' glade. I saw millions of lights floating in the valley between the rocks.
2. My grandfather's garden where giant dragonflies fly.
3. A reference to fingers that give agency, rescue.
4. The film Annihilation, which, according to the interpretation from the Drugi Seans channel, tells about the therapeutic process. About the changes that occur during healing in personality, life, about cutting off, connecting, building yourself more consciously, on your own terms.
5. Art from various cultures, in which insects are attributed with the symbolism of longevity, rebirth, transformation.
