Anyone who visits the Olsztyn-based BWA gallery over the summer will be able to see the Bibliotekarze w Ziemi Ognistej (Librarians in Tierra del Fuego) exhibition by Joanna Rajkowska, which is an account of the artist’s experiences during her fellowship at Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting in the US in 1997. That time of quietude, loss and focusing on internal transformations was then channelled into a very personal work of art – a double portrait. The exhibition will be open until September 4th, 2011.

Joanna Rajkowska, born in 1968 in Bydgoszcz, studied history of art at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, where she also graduated from the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts. She received a diploma with distinction in 1993, supervised by Professor Jerzy Nowosielski. She is the artist behind numerous sculptures, drawings, photographs, films, objects, installations and actions carried out in the public space. Her most renowned public space works in recent years include Pozdrowienia z Alej Jerozolimskich (Greetings from Aleje Jerozolimskie, Warsaw, 2002-2009) – a palm tree located in the centre of the Rondo Charles'a de Gaulle'a roundabout and Dotleniacz (Oxygenator) – an artificial pond in Plac Grzybowski (Warsaw, 2006-2007). Laureate of the Paszport Polityki award in 2007 for “Unusual projects carried out in the public space, and reaching out to a person lost wandering in the city.” It is worth remembering that Joanna Rajkowska participated in the first edition of the ArtBoom festival with her sculpture entitled Wodnik (The Aquarius), and was involved in a discussion on the character of a modern socially-committed artist, constantly delving deeper into socially sensitive themes.