CV



Monika Walendziak (born 1986), painter and photographer. 
 
After graduating in history of art, she followed her studies into philosophy and theology at Jesuits' college in Warsaw and four year long course of Orthodox iconography and spirituality at the College of the Christian East (Studium Chrześcijańskiego Wschodu) at Dominicans' monastery.

She investigates the subject of mutability, dynamics of growth and decay of structures, of dying and transformation in the natural world and nature regaining its place in areas previously occupied by human activity. A special place for the artist is the garden, being a space of confrontation of man and nature as well as for a clash between freedom and determinism.

Inspired by the idea of radical corporeality of art, she pays much attention to the tangible aspect of her paintings, experimenting with primers, binders and dry pigments. Treating geometric forms as universal and elemental language of visual imagination she invites meditative reflection on the instability of the material world, aspects of control, destruction and resurrection.

Her works were displayed as individual and group exhibitions in the United Kingdom, Poland and Ukraine and can be found in private collections in the UK, Poland, Ukraine, Denmark and Australia. Since 2017 she has been regularly working in Copenhagen being responsible for the design of the chapel, wall paintings and icons at Sankt Augustins Kirke. 
 

She lives in Edinburgh, UK.

Represented by: Ikikata.Art Gallery

 

1999-2003 Wojciech Gerson School of Fine Arts [Ogólnokształcąca Szkoła Sztuk Pięknych, Zespół Państwowych Szkół Plastycznych im. Wojciecha Gersona], Warsaw, Poland

2005-2010 History of Art, Master’s Degree, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw, Poland
  
2010-2013 Philosophy & Theology, Pontifical Faculty of Theology Collegium Bobolanum, Warsaw, Poland

2009-2013 Byzantine Iconography, College of the Christian East [Studium Chrześcijańskiego Wschodu], Warsaw, Poland



SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

          2022: 

'Does the Garden have to be destroyed?', Kirketorvet, Aarhus, Denmark

          2018: 

'Garden', Galeria Matulka, Milanówek, Poland

2014: 

'Matter and Light', The Meditatio Centre, London, UK


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
  
 

2023:

20th Warsaw Art Fair: Ikikata.Art Gallery, EXPO XXI, Warsaw, Poland
 
The Society of Scottish Artists 125th Annual Exhibition, Maclaurin Art Gallery, Rozelle Estate, Ayr, Scotland, UK
 
Warsaw ArtShow, Fabryka Norblina, Warsaw, Poland
 
'IS IT STILL (A) LIFE?', Ikikata Gallery, Podkowa Leśna, Poland

2022:

The Society of Scottish Artists 130 Years | Annual Exhibition, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, UK
 
19th Warsaw Art Fair: Ikikata.Art Gallery, EXPO XXI, Warsaw, Poland
 
'Kolonia artystyczna Podkowa Leśna', Centrum Kultury i Inicjatyw Obywatelskich - Pałacyk Kasyno, Podkowa Leśna, Poland

2020:

'Beyond the Surface', Ikikata Art Gallery, Podkowa Leśna, Poland
 

2019:

'Zamlynnia', The Palace of Art, Lviv, Ukraine
'Zamlynnia', Volhynian Museum of Icons, Lutsk, Ukraine

2018:

'Mass of the Night River', St Matthew's Church of Scotland, Perth, UK

2017:

'Darkroom Tales', Ice Factory, Perth, UK

'Nature', University of Edinburgh, UK

'Torah in Byzantine Iconography'
- Art Gallery, Lutsk, Ukraine

Exhibition following the 7th International Meeting of Iconographers, Zamlynnia, Ukraine

2016: 

Democratic Camera Club Exhibition 'Ideas of Beauty', Summerhall, Edinburgh, UK

‘Peacemakers’: 
- Regional Museum, Kovel, Ukraine
- Dubno Castle, Ukraine
- Regional Museum, Kremenets, Ukraine
- R_z Gallery, Rzeszów, Poland
- KIK, Warsaw, Poland
- Debiut Gallery, Gdynia, Poland
 
‘Sacred Art in Volynia’, B.Biegas Gallery, Ciechanów, Poland

2015: 

‘Peacemakers’:  
- Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum, Lviv, Ukraine
- Art Gallery, Lutsk, Ukraine

Exhibition following the 5th International Meeting of Iconographers, Zamlynnia, Ukraine

College of the Christian East Annual Exhibition, St Joseph's Dominican Monastery, Warsaw, Poland


2014: 

'The Sacred Face', St John's Church, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK


2012

College of the Christian East Annual Exhibition, St Joseph's Dominican Monastery, Warsaw, Poland


2011: 

College of the Christian East Annual Exhibition, St Joseph's Dominican Monastery, Warsaw, Poland


2010: 

College of the Christian East Annual Exhibition, St Joseph's Dominican Monastery, Warsaw, Poland



PUBLIC COMMISSIONS:
  

2020 - Ongoing

'Anastasis' Chapel, Sankt Augustins Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark
 

2020: 

Murals for Sankt Augustins Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark

2019: 

Icon for St Mary's RC Church, Inverness, Scotland, UK
Wall paintings for Sankt Augustins Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark
 

2018: 

Icons for Sankt Augustins Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark 
 

2015: 

Icon for St Mary's RC Cathedral, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
 
 
RESIDENCIES:
 
2017: the 7th International Meeting of Iconographers, Zamlynnia, Ukraine, organised by: Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Lutsk, National Association of Ukrainian Artists, Department of Ukrainian Studies of the University of Warsaw, Lviv National Academy of Arts, Association of Polish Artists and Designers 
 
2015: the 5th International Meeting of Iconographers, Zamlynnia, Ukraine, organised by: Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Lutsk, National Association of Ukrainian Artists, Department of Ukrainian Studies of the University of Warsaw, Lviv National Academy of Arts, Association of Polish Artists and Designers