The studio of Malgorzata Drohomirecka. Limehouse ACAVA studios. London. Photographed on behalf of ACAVA by Zute Lightfoot
Małgorzata Drohomirecka’s practice intertwines painting, screen-printing and 16 mm camera-less film. During her first years in London (between 2008 and 2015), she created abstract compositions where the rhythm of geometrical and organic forms in bright, bold colours played a prominent role. However, in her paintings, screen prints, and camera-less 16mm films, playfulness collides with some sense of disquiet.
Since 2015, Drohomirecka has realised that there are not only formal but also socio-political issues that she would like to address in her works. And that she was not able to fully convey them through abstract compositions. This is when the transition from abstract to figurative painting began. Małgorzata decided to address the issues that bothered her the most and that she felt were worth re-examining, rethinking or deconstructing.
Executed with oils on canvas, collages, and appropriation of symbols from historical and religious paintings, as well as motifs from popular culture and BDSM aesthetics, her new works dive into a variety of visual styles. Figurative painting becomes a tool to challenge the prevailing ideologies of hierarchy, oppression, and guilt in patriarchal societies. The use of these diverse elements serves as a commentary on social norms and expectations. It also helps to understand the idea of feminism within the context of Polish culture.
Małgorzata Drohomirecka graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, Faculty of Painting and Graphics in 2006. After completing her master’s degree she moved to London, where she lives and works since.
She has taken part in solo and group exhibitions both in Poland and abroad. Among her important solo exhibitions were: Wa(y)st(o)ed Freedom at Centrala, Birmingham (2021); Polonia_2020, an online project as part of the Culture on the Net grant programme run by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland (2020); Spider-Phoenix at Galeria Żak, Gdańsk, Poland (2019); and Between Analogue and Digital at The Albert, London (2013). Among others, she showed her 16mm film at the New Experimental Film Festival at Apiary Studios, London (2016). In 2014, she co-organized the exhibition Point of Meeting East at the Latarka Gallery, Budapest. In 2007, she participated in the IX Biennale of Drawing and Printmaking in Győr, Hungary.
MAŁGORZATA DROHOMIRECKA
EDUCATION:
2001–2006 – Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk, Poland. Graphic and Painting Department. Discipline: PAINTING. Master of Arts (2006)
GRANTS AND AWARDS:
2021 National Lottery Project Grant, Art Council England
2020 Culture Online, Art Scholarship, Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, PL.
2020 Arts Council England, Covid19 Emergency Response Funds, UK
2005 Diploma of Polish Minister of Culture for the realization of the project in Children’s Clinic of Oncology and Hematology in Gdańsk, PL
2005 The Mayor of Sopot Town Artistic Scholarship, PL
2005 The Gdansk Graphic of the Year Award, PL
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2021 Wa(y)st(o)ed Freedom, Centrala-Space, Birmingham, UK
2021 Book launch of the “Secret of the Catkin Family”, Sopoteka, Sopot, PL
2020 Polonia_2020, Online
2019 Spider-Phoenix, Żak Gallery, Gdansk, PL
2014 Stop-Frame, Dom Doktora Gallery, Zakopane, PL
2013 Between Analogue and Digital, The Albert, London, UK
2005 Reflections on the shop window, PGRart, Gdansk, PL
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2023 Echoes of Belonging, Daa Art, London, UK
2023 (K)now Polish Art, UCA Project Space, Folkestone, UK
2022 Improbable Encounters, Daa Art, online
2016 Festival of New Experimental Film and Video, Apiary Studios, London, UK
2015 The Love for Chemistry, Espacio Gallery, London, UK
2015 Traces, The Montage Gallery, London, UK
2015 Point of Meeting: East, Polish Institute, Latarka Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2013 Tasty Modern, Schwartz Gallery, London, UK
2012 Showcase Cities, Richmix, London, UK
2012 The Fountain, Frameless Gallery, London, UK
2007 9th Biennale of Drawings and Graphics, Gyor, Hungary
2007 Spring of Youth, Refektarz Gallery Kartuzy, Poland
2007 Obserwatorium rzeczywistosci, National Gallery, Sopot. Poland
PUBLICATIONS:
Reflections on exhibition by Małgorzata Drohomirecka: Strategies of the unreliable narrator indealing with nationality, patriotism, ethnicity in artistic feminist discourses by Urszula Ula Chowaniecand Anna Frątczak, in Argument, Biannual Philosophical Journal, Vol. 12 No. 2, Kraków 2022, Poland https://argument.up.krakow.pl/article/view/10327/9381
Our Daily Gothic by Izabela Morska, in Polish Gothic, Uniwersytet Gdański, 2022, https://polishgothic.ug.edu.pl/izabela-morska-our-daily-gothic/
Malgorzata Drohomirecka, Polonia_2020- Presented by Bartosz Kolata, in Ne_Ni, Nr 3/2022, Toruń 2022, Poland
Polonia, Insurgent Tradition and Hip-hop by Izabela Morska, in Czas Kultury, Nr 1/2021, Poznań 2021, Poland
Equality, Zine published by The Red Zenith Collective, online, 2021
Contact: A festival of new experimental film and video, printed by Push, London 2016, UK
9th Biennale of Drawings and Graphics, catalogue, Gyor 2007, Hungary
“Obserwatorium rzeczywistosci”, catalogue, National Gallery, Sopot 2007