“(There was) an experiment with special glasses that made users see everything upside down and backward. Soon their minds adjusted and they began to see the world ‘normally’ again. After a few weeks, when the glasses were removed, the subjects again saw everything upside-down and had to relearn the vision they had taken for granted before.” Lila: An inquiry into morals. By Robert M. Pirsig
“Ecologists call this kind of retrospective amnesia the “shifting baseline syndrome,” by which diminished resource is passed on to a new generation for whom it becomes, in turn, their original estate.” The Once And Future Great Lakes Country. An Ecological History. By John L. Riley
I am a Polish-Canadian artist living in Espoo, Finland. I am currently working on a Masters in Creative Sustainability in Aalto University.
In 2005, I received a diploma in Drawing and Painting from the Ontario College of Art and Design University. For five years after that I continued exploring ways of connecting with people outside traditional art institutions through activities like street vending or impromptu sculpture-installations primarily in Toronto. In 2010 the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill got me exploring ways art can influence our perception of change. I returned to OCAD University to sharpen my knowledge of ecological and sustainability issues. I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2014.
In 2016, I attended two self-directed residencies. Un poco del Chocó – Nature Reserve and Biological Field Station in Ecuador, and Esperanza Verde wildlife and forest conservation project in Peru’s Amazon basin. In 2018, I explored “connection(s) between science, art and the natural environment” at LABVERDE, a Brazilian residency in the Amazon rainforest. I developed and presented my ideas at the Proyecto’acePIRAR residency in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2020, I completed and exhibited new work at the Owl Ridge Acres residency in Bancroft, Canada and Corazon residency in La Plata, Argentina. Later that year, with the support of the Ontario Arts Council I installed and documented “Biotic / Mechanic Pump V.2” an immersive video installation at Ed Video Media Arts Centre. In 2021, YYZ Artist Outlet in Toronto showcased my “Mechanical Trees” Impressions series. The show was written about in Art Toronto. In 2022, at RaumArs in Suomi (Finland) I will collaborate with students from the University of Turku, Department of Teacher Education and the community. We will create a story and artwork about possible futures of the human relationship with nature.
Through my work I have developed a framework to engage with the complex subject of the human relationship with nature. My process is intuitive, personal, and centered on story creation. The stories attempt to connect local history and myth to material production. My work questions what kind of future we are creating by closely examining the relationship between nature and the built environment. I am particularly interested in exploring a future where we need to rely on technological analogs (like Mechanical Trees) to support or replace ecosystem services. This is inspired by the technocentric aspect of our current culture. The stories I tell, unify a range of art responses that encourage reflection on humanity’s relationship to the environment.
I am guided by ecological science, process philosophy, ideas of sustainability and circular economy. My art responses include sculpture, installation, painting, Impression prints. I am also experimenting with applying scientific processes to artistic ones.
