Collection

Maciej Sieńczyk tells the story of the comic book In Memory of Władysław Broniewski, commissioned by Lampa editor-in-chief Paweł Dunin-Wąsowicz, who joined the project organised by Galeria Raster to commemorate the poet. “I was presented with a volume of poetry,” Sieńczyk recalls. “I chose one of the early poems, ‘Herbs’, inspired by French symbolism. It is rife with melancholy and motifs of dreaming and death, all themes I can identify with. After a brief yet painful effort, I came up with the story In Memory of Władysław Broniewski. The Broniewski I portrayed is completely unlike his true self. This was my attempt at disassociating myself from the practice of illustrating other people’s work, and discouraging Lampa’s editor-in-chief from offering me such projects in the future. Similarly, the plot of the book, intended as a rider for the poem, as it were, is completely inconsistent with its content.”

Illustrator, draughtsman, author of comic books and graphic novels, writer and columnist. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. His characters are often invented or historical, from the Dancing Monkey from Rogalin to the oil lamp inventor Ignacy Łukasiewicz. The world he shows resembles the pre-1989 Polish reality. Author of the books Hydriola (2005), Wrzątkun (2009) and Przygody na Bezludnej Wyspie (Adventures on a Desert Island, 2012). He has worked with Lampa monthly and Exklusiv magazine for many years, and has illustrated books by Dorota Masłowska, Michał Witkowski and others. Nominated for the Nike Literary Award (2013) and the Conrad Award (2017). He lives and works in Warsaw.