2nd – 13th June, POSK Gallery, Hammersmith

All welcome to the *Private View & ‘In Conversation’ Tuesday 4th June 6pm at POSK Gallery POSK, 238-246 King Street, Hammersmith, London W6 0RF (2 minutes’ walk away from Ravenscourt Park tube station). when Ania Ruszkowski will speak to Dr Julia Griffin about her artistic practice and the influences of her Anglo-Polish identity on her work.

From the Artist

My Polish heritage has influenced me to examine how to represent the British and the migrant identity when they converge. Recreating Home was inspired by personal experiences of the dwelling my parents reconstructed in the UK after being displaced and losing their homes during the Second World War.

My intention is to explore how two distinct cultures become intertwined to form a unique hybrid legacy of their own. Through my emblematic use of ornamentation and engagement with patterns and everyday objects I endeavour to capture my family’s dual Anglo-Polish cultures and histories as the past entwines with the present. Merging themes of the home and personal belongings with memories from the past, my paintings form a narrative which continues beyond the picture frame.

About Ania Ruszkowski

Ania Ruszkowski is a contemporary Anglo-Polish artist. She trained as a portraitist at the Art Academy London and has been recently elected a member of The Association of Polish Artists in Great Britain. Her paintings weave an intricate tapestry-like pattern, intertwining her hybrid cultural identity, heritage and life story.

Ania’s paintings are characterised by a number of recurrent motifs, including distinctive tabletops, dressed and adorned in celebration of her Anglo-Polish background. She represents a miscellany of everyday objects such as poetry books by the Polish Noble Prize winner Czesław Miłosz, Laura Ashley fabrics, Mazowsze Polish folk dance group posters, British wallpapers, Bolesławiec pottery teacups inspired by Polish folk art and Habitat vases. In so doing, she places her two nationalities side by side. Her still lifes are a blend of objects, a patchwork of symbols, that bring together her two cultures, connecting her to both her countries. They are effectively hidden portraits which go beyond mimetic representation to explore who we are through our home and the belongings we identify ourselves by.

Her work draws on historical and contemporary inspirations, bearing the hand of Polish folk artists and graphic designers like Waldemar Świerzy, whilst also referencing contemporary illustrators and painters of still lifes such as Nikki Maloof and Hilary Pecis. Ania’s paintings demonstrate her creative journey, including her experimental quest for visual metaphors of identity and memory.

Ania seeks to showcase and preserve her Anglo-Polish culture. Her paintings are a room of curiosity and comfort, a tie to her parents, a link to those who have passed away. She paints a space of belonging, a safe home, a place in which to settle, rooted in her past, sealed with passion and pride.

Exhibition curated by Ania Ruszkowski

Website: https://www.aniaruszkowski.com/

Exhibitions and Awards

• Shortlisted for the National Portrait Gallery’s Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award (2024)
• Short film ‘Memory Loss’ selected by Dementia Spring Foundation to raise awareness of dementia through the arts (2024)
• Winner of the Polish Academy of Social Sciences and Humanities’ International Competition for the Polish Artist of the Year (2023)
• Solo Exhibition – Mamuska! Leake Street Arches, South Bank, London (Summer 2023)
• Art Academy London Graduation Exhibition – Winner of the The Cass Art Prize (2023)
• Chelsea Arts Society’s Summer Exhibition (2023)
• Portraiture Commission for Sir Peter Birkett (2022)
• Windsor Fringe, Group Exhibition (2021)
• ‘Inside Out’ – An artist’s collaboration, Newington Library (2021)

Ania Ruszkowski, exhibition curator said: ‘Celebrating my parent’s memory goes beyond the legacy of the Second World War. My creative journey explores still life, both with reference to seemingly static inanimate objects and lively glimpses into mundane activitiesto portray my Anglo-Polish hybrid cultural identity in a non-figurative way’.

Dr Julia Griffin, Anglo-Polish art historian and curator of ‘Young Poland: The Polish Arts and Crafts Movement, 1890-1918’ at the William Morris Gallery said: ‘Ania Ruszkowski is one of the most talented, innovative and original emerging artists of Anglo-Polish heritage and one of a handful to tackle the subject of multicultural identity, so very relevant and current in today’s world. Her thought-provoking paintings bring together various media, mementoes and cultural references to tell life stories. It is exciting to watch her creative journey.’

JOLA KUTEREBA: CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF KAROLINKA

Ms Maura Kutereba formed the dance group Karolinka in 1978. Her daughter Jola is its present Creative Director. The artist captures Jola’s connection to dance and her Anglo-Polish culture through her belongings which formed the stimulus for this composition. These include her tattoo design incorporated into the wallpaper, Karolinka’s branding, as well as some of the books from her bookshelf. Each item is symbolic.

Acrylic on Canvas

80 x 60cm

2023

POTENTIAL FUTURE

As the artist reflects on her own family’s displacement, it highlights the many Ukrainians who have lost their homes. Degas’ ‘Ukrainian Dancers’ are referenced as a reminder that the Slavs have long fought to protect their land and homes from invasion by their dominant neighbours. The Ukrainian national flower sits prominently on the breakfast table, against a backdrop of the blue and yellow of the country’s national flag.

Acrylic on Canvas

80 x 60 xm

2023

Exhibition Listing : ‘Recreating Home’ – Ania Ruszkowska – Exhibition at POSK Gallery in London (artrabbit.com)