About me
Anyone who writes probably knows that writing about yourself is the hardest thing of all. Unfortunately I couldn't pass it on to anyone else, so I'm taking it on myself.
I was born in the first half of the 1970s in Gdynia. Poland was in the middle of the "Gierek decade" – communist prosperity on credit from the West. But what mattered more: the disco era had begun!
My father, an architect, was offered a contract, and at six months old I left for Libya with my family.
Colonel Gaddafi had just re-nationalised the oil industry.
My father went off on contracts to Libya several more times, and even to Nigeria; we didn't always go with him.
The start of primary school meant strikes and martial law. My parents, who did not care for watching the propaganda news, never heard that martial law had been declared and that the schools were closed – so on 14 December my sister and I were the only ones who went to school, which was shut.
At that time almost everyone belonged to the opposition Solidarity movement. As a small child I went with my father to what I think was the first Solidarity congress in the Olivia hall in Gdańsk – and there were crowds! Another time in Gdynia we ran into riots and had to run (I was wearing wooden clogs, which are hard to run in). It's strange, but I remember those events very well – the people, the militia, the escape, the tear gas… and I was only a child watching the grown-ups' fight up close, without understanding the situation.
As an early teenager I liked drawing, and I drew a lot. The two TV channels we had only broadcast at set hours, and I couldn't always spend my time in the yard with my friends – so I drew, and that's how it began.
I don't know how I learned that there was a school for people who like to draw and paint; I suspect my father had a hand in it – I probably got my knack for drawing from him. A year earlier I started taking lessons with Ms Ania, a wonderful graphic artist and painter, and then I passed the entrance exam for the Art High School.
The high-school years – what can I say, it was great, so much was going on… In Poland the Round Table talks took place, at school we painted the crown back onto the national emblem, and there were the beginnings of real democracy, hyperinflation, a whole host of events.
After my diploma and school-leaving exams it seemed normal to me to apply to the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. I passed, but there was no place for me – the world stood still… Then another year went into painting, graphic work and a job, and another attempt at getting into university. This time they didn't want me because I was pregnant; two months later I gave birth to my son. He made up for all the sadness of that failure.
Adam was a year old when I decided to go to university, and I successfully got into Political Science. I was in the same year as my sister, we had lots of friends and a great deal to study. I studied part-time, worked and raised a child – to this day I have no idea how I managed it all at once. I admire myself.
After my master's degree I kept working, but suddenly I had plenty of free time. About a year after finishing my studies I decided to take a course for art teachers. It lasted a year and confirmed that I wanted to teach at school. My husband changed jobs, Adam was going to school, I needed a change and wanted to have more to do with art. It worked out, and I started seven years of work at a school in Gdynia, climbing the steps of professional promotion; my students motivated me and it was really great.
I painted and drew a lot, though 95% of it was for school and its needs. In 2009 I decided to move abroad "after my husband", who, after several years of working in Poland and Romania, had settled professionally in Germany. I gave up my job, took a language course and, above all, began to really paint – I'm doing what I always wanted to do. I am happy!