Jessica: When did you start with this series?
Zuzanna: I started this series as my Masters Diploma. I read that every year in Poland approximately 20,000 people go missing. I was struck by that fact. It’s as if a small city got completely wiped off a map. I wanted my graduation project to be about something important, something that moves me. That’s why I chose the topic of disappearances. I cooperated with the Itaka Foundation, the biggest non-governmental organisation in Poland which works in the field of missing persons. I not only painted real people that had gone missing but also tried to show the trauma and difficult emotions that the missing person’s loved ones have to endure.
Jessica: When did you start with this series?
Zuzanna: I started this series as my Masters Diploma. I read that every year in Poland approximately 20,000 people go missing. I was struck by that fact. It’s as if a small city got completely wiped off a map. I wanted my graduation project to be about something important, something that moves me. That’s why I chose the topic of disappearances. I cooperated with the Itaka Foundation, the biggest non-governmental organisation in Poland which works in the field of missing persons. I not only painted real people that had gone missing but also tried to show the trauma and difficult emotions that the missing person’s loved ones have to endure.
Jessica: When did you start with this series?
Zuzanna: I started this series as my Masters Diploma. I read that every year in Poland approximately 20,000 people go missing. I was struck by that fact. It’s as if a small city got completely wiped off a map. I wanted my graduation project to be about something important, something that moves me. That’s why I chose the topic of disappearances. I cooperated with the Itaka Foundation, the biggest non-governmental organisation in Poland which works in the field of missing persons. I not only painted real people that had gone missing but also tried to show the trauma and difficult emotions that the missing person’s loved ones have to endure.
Jessica: When did you start with this series?
Zuzanna: I started this series as my Masters Diploma. I read that every year in Poland approximately 20,000 people go missing. I was struck by that fact. It’s as if a small city got completely wiped off a map. I wanted my graduation project to be about something important, something that moves me. That’s why I chose the topic of disappearances. I cooperated with the Itaka Foundation, the biggest non-governmental organisation in Poland which works in the field of missing persons. I not only painted real people that had gone missing but also tried to show the trauma and difficult emotions that the missing person’s loved ones have to endure.
Jessica: When did you start with this series?
Zuzanna: I started this series as my Masters Diploma. I read that every year in Poland approximately 20,000 people go missing. I was struck by that fact. It’s as if a small city got completely wiped off a map. I wanted my graduation project to be about something important, something that moves me. That’s why I chose the topic of disappearances. I cooperated with the Itaka Foundation, the biggest non-governmental organisation in Poland which works in the field of missing persons. I not only painted real people that had gone missing but also tried to show the trauma and difficult emotions that the missing person’s loved ones have to endure.
Jessica: Can you describe or talk about the process and how long does it take you to do these pieces?
Zuzanna: It always starts with an idea. I usually know what’s going to be there, and what the composition is going to be like. Then I create a collage. I try to capture the idea best I can, I put together different photographs. It gives me a lot of flexibility as I can create my own reality and change it in whatever way I want. But I still have a reference that allows me to paint realistically.
Sometimes one collage leads to another one. I really like Picasso’s quote who said that “inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” Sometimes the idea needs to rest though. It needs time to ripen.
Finally I paint and the collage merges into one coherent piece. Painting gives me a whole new range of possibilities and tools. For instance I can create an illusion of movement or change face features. The last step is closing the computer, stepping away from the easel and looking at the painting with a completely objective eye, that is not biased by the collage I made. In the last series one painting usually would take a month to make.
Jessica: Can you describe or talk about the process and how long does it take you to do these pieces?
Zuzanna: It always starts with an idea. I usually know what’s going to be there, and what the composition is going to be like. Then I create a collage. I try to capture the idea best I can, I put together different photographs. It gives me a lot of flexibility as I can create my own reality and change it in whatever way I want. But I still have a reference that allows me to paint realistically.
Sometimes one collage leads to another one. I really like Picasso’s quote who said that “inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” Sometimes the idea needs to rest though. It needs time to ripen.
Finally I paint and the collage merges into one coherent piece. Painting gives me a whole new range of possibilities and tools. For instance I can create an illusion of movement or change face features. The last step is closing the computer, stepping away from the easel and looking at the painting with a completely objective eye, that is not biased by the collage I made. In the last series one painting usually would take a month to make.