ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Not only Silesians, but certainly every Pole, when hearing the phrase Upper Silesia, imagines mines, steelworks and slag heaps. Monuments surrounded by an industrial city, such as Katowice’s Spodek, or historic districts full of miners’ houses, such as Nikiszowiec. The first associations are certainly not nature, full of beautiful landscapes and wild spaces. For several years now, I have been exploring and discovering this other side of Silesia: the extremely atmospheric Bytomka Valley located almost in the very centre of the city, the Lipinka Valley Nature and Landscape Complex in Świętochłowice, the beautiful Silesian Park with its undiscovered paths full of light and colour, the captivating views of the changing seasons at the Maroko Pond surrounded by the Tysiąclecia Housing Estate, and the beautiful Silesian Botanical Garden in Mokre. There are many such clean, natural, green locations in Upper Silesia. They have become an inspiration for me to create.
I see beauty in unexpected places, thanks to which I am growing into Silesia anew. Where we live and where we come from is extremely important because it is our identity. Family, faith, work, our culture and history – these elements are rooted in a characteristic space, in nature, which we shape to our needs and sometimes protect.
In my paintings, I capture the nature that we often forget about, surrounded by tower blocks and living in an industrial rush. Watercolour painting allows me to quickly record emotions and feelings. Wherever I am, I can create a colourful memory of what I see. I love painting landscapes, the passing seasons, visually captivating places that I have visited or would like to visit. I describe places in Katowice through my paintings, the way I see and feel them. The warm colours of autumn in the Kochłowice Forest, the turquoise-green views of summer at Lake Pogoria III, the lush greens of spring in Kościuszko Park, a summer evening in the Valley of Three Ponds, the wintery and icy Maroko Pond – this is the beauty that I see and capture in unique frames.
My creative process involves recalling images and feelings from memory, shaping them, taking an intuitive journey into myself, releasing emotions, and entering a state of vulnerability. When I create, my mind analyses reality, which is essential in the process of forming a work, but it is the mind that recalls the memories and emotions appropriate to the moment that is directly connected to intuition and instinctive action, giving lightness and freedom. A sense of aesthetics, composition, colours, art and cultural history – all these elements are present in my creative process, resonating like chords, like music. Art is a way of life for me, its multidimensionality is freedom. Whether it is painting, graphic art, mixed media, photography, video or installation, every project to which I devote my time and energy is a work created to tell the story of life, the present moment, a palette of emotions, feelings and human ideas.
Silesia is a place where I put down new roots after a long period of emigration. My work is about perceiving space, its fragments, and my belonging to it. Finding my place on earth, from where I can observe passing moments, experience life, enjoy the seasons (the cycle) and their fruits (creativity). My paintings are a story about places and people, a record of my everyday life, which I observe, nature in the centre of the industrial world. Thanks to it, I pause my thoughts and calm down. Frames, moments, fragments of the surrounding nature of Silesia that catch my eye – this is what “Silesia through my eyes” is all about.
Sylwia Lipina „Silesia through my eyes”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sylwia Lipina – graduate: BA (HONS) Fine Art – University of the Arts London, Chelsea College of Art and Design, HNC Diploma in Art and Design – Southampton City College, Postgraduate Studies in Art History – University of Silesia in Katowice
“The artist’s creative process involves recalling images from memory, shaping them, taking an intuitive journey into oneself, releasing emotions, and entering a state of vulnerability. The mind that analyses reality is essential in the process of creating a work of art, but it is the mind that recalls the memory appropriate to the moment that is directly connected to intuition and instinctive action. A sense of aesthetics, composition, colours, art and cultural history.
All these elements are present in my creative process, resonating like chords, like music. Art is a way of life for me, its multidimensionality is freedom. Whether it is painting, graphic art, photography, video or installation, every project to which I devote my time and energy is a work created to tell the story of life, the present moment, a palette of emotions and human idea.”