About
Monika Waraxa is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw with an MA in Fine Arts, Faculty of Painting. She holds a Doctor of Fine Arts (D.F.A.) degree from the Doctoral School at her alma mater. Her doctoral dissertation, Traces of the Goddess in the Web of Multiversum, draws inspiration from Marija Gimbutas’ research on matristic Neolithic cultures of Old Europe and explores reconstructing her matrilineal lineage in a series of portraits, photo-video collages, and objects. She is a visual artist and writer. Her areas of interest include painting, objects, and performance. She presented her works at solo shows, including artist-run space Oblatów4, Katowice, Poland; Promocyjna Gallery, Warsaw, Poland; Polish Institute, Berlin, Germany; Zderzak Gallery, Kraków, Poland; and group shows, including Fringe Warsaw, Poland; LAZNIA Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdańsk, Poland; Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland; KKKC, Klaipėda, Lithuania; Metal Culture Peterborough, United Kingdom; Im Brick Gallery, Vienna, Austria. She was a freelance writer for the Przekrój Foundation and for the Contemporary Lynx Magazine. She is a two-time recipient of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage scholarship, in 2007 and 2010. In June 2023, she took part in the 29th Feminist Seminar with a lecture, Eye of the Heart and Solaristic Works by Hanna Orzechowska. In August 2023, she took part in the Poesia e necessità nel movimento dance and movement workshop in Ostuni (Italy), led by Julie Anne Stanzak, a dancer of the Pina Bausch Dance Theatre. She lives and works in Warsaw, Poland.
Education/Scholarships
2021–2025
Doctoral School of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, PhD in Arts (2026); Dissertation title: “Traces of the Goddess in the Web of Multiversum”, Supervisor: dr hab. Marcin Chomicki, Associate Professor
2010
Six-month Scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage
2007
One-year Scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage
2000–2004
Full-time studies at the Faculty of Painting, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Master’s degree in the Painting Studio of Prof. J. Modzelewski
1998–2000
Full-time studies in Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2026
Traces of the Goddess in the Web of Multiversum, Alina Foundation (Fundacja Alina), Warsaw
2024
What Can I Do for You?, painting, mural, Oblatów 4, Artist-run space, Katowice
2011–2013
Let’s Do It Together (Zróbmy to razem), multimedia online project, with the participation of art audiences. English editions: Rich Mix, London, United Kingdom; Metal Culture, Peterborough, United Kingdom; Polish editions: Galeria 2.0 (2.0 Gallery), Warsaw, Poland; LKW Gallery, Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, Gdańsk, Poland; Galeria Wizytująca (Wizytująca Gallery), Warsaw, Poland; Zderzak Gallery Galeria Zderzak, Kraków, Poland
2010
Paper, homage to Katarzyna Kobro, site specific installation, drawing, Galeria Bałucka (Bałucka Gallery), Łódź, Poland
Towar (Goods), paintings, murals, BWA Galeria Sanocka (BWA Sanocka Gallery), Sanok, Poland
2008
First in Space, paintings, murals, Wizytująca Galeria (Wizytującą Gallery), Warsaw, Poland
2007
Sehr Schön (Very Pretty), paintings, murals, Polish Institute, Berlin, Germany
2006
Bardzo ładne malarstwo (Very Pretty Paintings), Galeria Promocyjna, Warsaw, Poland
Freaks & Bikini Girls – Waraxa Sideshow, paintings, Oficyna Malarska (Oficyna Malarska Gallery), Warsaw, Poland
2004
Anslöschung (Erasing), paintings, video, graduation show, Central Railway Station, Warsaw, Poland
Wymazywanie (Erasing) intervention in public space, cleaning the Railway Station walls of graffiti, Olsztynek, Poland
Selected Group Shows
2025
Heart. Sun, paintings, murals, Zachęta Project Room, Warsaw, Poland
2024
Kłącze (Rhizome), Fringe Warsaw, painting, Institute of Industrial Chemistry, Warsaw, Poland
Fresh breeze, performance at the opening of the exhibition Układ sił (Power Structure), Anna and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz Museum in Stawisko, Podkowa Leśna, Poland
2023
Wiedźmy (Witches), painting, 5D mural, Inne Towarzystwo, Warsaw, Poland
Masa Krytyczna (Critical Mass), painting, Oblatów 4, Katowice, Poland
1/2, paintings, video, object, Czapski Palace, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland
2022
Collections / Zbiory, painting, Inne Towarzystwo, Fringe Warsaw, Poland
2019
Let’s Do It Together, Archive vol. 1 local context, documentation of multimedia online project with the participation of art audiences, LAZNIA Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdańsk, Poland
2018
100 flag (One Hundred Flags), a flag depicting an archer, happening for the centenary of independence and women’s suffrage, Biuro Wystaw, Warsaw, Poland
2014
Zróbmy to razem/ Let’s Do It Together, When a neighbor is a stranger, display of banners in public space presenting chosen posts by project participants, LAZNIA Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdańsk, Poland
2010
Piach/Sand/Smelis, at Post-revolutions, art intervention with the participation of art audiences, installation at Post-revolutions, Center for Communication of Cultures, Klaipeda, Lithuania
2007
Młodzi z Warszawy (Youngsters from Warsaw), painting, Ośrodek Propagandy Sztuki (Art Propaganda Center), Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi, Łódź, Poland
2006
Polish painting of the 21st century, murals, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
Odlot. Humor w młodej sztuce polskiej (Takeoff. Humor in young Polish art), video, Galeria Im Brick, Vienna, Austria
Workshops
2023
Poesia e necessità nel movimento, dance and movement workshops led by Julie Anne Stanzak (Tanztheater Wuppertal), Ostuni, Italy
Seminars/ Conferences
2023
Oko serca i prace solarystyczne Hanny Orzechowskiej (The Eye of the Heart and Hanna Orzechowska’s Solar Works), lecture at 29th Feminist Seminar New Collectivity – Today’s Perspectives on Women’s Art in the 1970s, Lokal 30 Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2022
Jak dziedziczą artystki (How Women Artists Inherit), lecture on the Do Not Abandon Me project by Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin at the student-doctoral conference Kobiety, sztuka, społeczeństwo (Women, Art, Society), The Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland