Collection

The Universe of My Heart is built like a matryoshka doll made of animals’ hearts. In Martyna’s human heart we find the progressively smaller hearts of animals that have played an important role in her life: a horse, dog, cat, rabbit, chicken, and fish. The organs of the individual creatures are connected by blood vessels, linking them together as one symbiotic living organism. The deep blacks, violets, and muted reds build up the secretive, heightened atmosphere of this careful observation of the dark interior of the body.
The painting can be read as an expression of concern and love for all living beings, and a reminder that humankind is one with them. Each has its own appointed place in nature, all linked together in more or less visible interdependency. The artist painted The Universe of My Heart after the death of her beloved rabbit. Going through the different stages of grief, she expresses feelings of hurt, suffering, helplessness, and loss.

Painter. Graduate of the School of Fine Arts in Krakow and workshop of Prof. Andrzej Tobis. In her expressionist painting she deals with toxic relations between people as well as violence against animals. Her work often draws on her own personal experiences. She depicts them in a blunt, often even brutal manner—formally as well as thematically. Her work is strongly driven by extreme emotions—love, hate, nostalgia, regret, and suffering. She was the 2015 winner of the 42nd Painting Biennale of Bielska Jesień. She lives and works in Katowice.