Sylwia WALANIA-TELEGA (b. 1995), Face to Face, 2025

ceramic mask, wooden frame, 30 x 30 x 12 cm, signed on the back

Born in 1995. Graduate of the Faculty of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow and of art history at the Jagiellonian University. She received her diploma with distinction and the Rector's Medal from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2020 in the studio of Prof. Karol Badyna. In the 2017/2018 academic year, she was the recipient of a scholarship from the Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts.

She has participated in numerous plein-air art events, exhibitions and competitions. She was awarded, among others, in the competition Contemporary Transposition of the Work of Konstanty Laszczka in 2016. In September 2021, her solo exhibition was held at the Municipal Cultural Center in Lezajsk. In October 2021, she won the Grand Prix of the Second International Competition and Exhibition of Contemporary Art Quadriennale Betesda.

She works in ceramics, small sculptural forms and drawing. In her work she strives to combine realism and abstraction, searching for her own forms of expression. As she herself emphasizes: "It is not important that something has been said many times - it is important that it has been said differently each time." Important to her is the dialogue with history, from which she draws inspiration, transforming it into her individual artistic language.