Karolina Szwed (b.1997 Bielsko-Biała) | 4643

Karolina Szwed studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice from 2016 to 2022 (MFA degree in the studio of Andrzej Tobis and Dominika Kowynia, annex in the interdisciplinary studio led by Lesław Tetla). She works mainly with oil paint and lives and works in Katowice. She deals with the theme of identity in the face of choices in the context of gender and ecology. She is interested in the compromise between morality and possibility. For the artist, art is an attempt to understand the binary way reality is constructed in mainstream social thought and to critically work through its shortcomings. Recent works introduce the theme of disagreement with femininity as the only option in the pursuit of adulthood. She tries to rework moving beyond social gender to the construction of an autonomous identity, operating with childlike (and girlish) themes in doing so. She introduces the theme of disagreement with adulthood if the only option is to become a woman (when agender options are not socially visible and accessible). The author describes herself as non-binary, but uses the pronouns she/he and it/him interchangeably. 

Exhibitions, projects:
Sticky Handshakes, Art Walk, Warsaw 2024. 
Opening of Nowa Karowa, Galeria Karowa shop, Warsaw 2023 
Post Truth (...), Kunstleben Kreuzberg, Berlin, 2023 
GRAND OPENING, Szałfynster, Katowice 2023 
CRITICAL MASS, Oblatów 4, Katowice, 2023 
Tip of my Tongue, Magnetic Fields, Warsaw, 2023 

Post Truth: Countering Disinformation Narratives, Poznan, 2023 
LARGO, Wolne Pokoje, Dąbrowa, 2023 
Closed Doors, Pralnia|LABA, Tarnowskie Góry, 2023 
Migrations, BWA Katowice, 2022 
Discrepancy Protocol, Empty Gallery, Katowice 2018
Student Graphic of the Year, Rondo Sztuki Gallery +, Katowice 2018
Josefov II, Bastion IV, umělecká Kolonie, Czech Republic 2017