From the Field of Art/practical talks: meeting with Monika Drożyńska

The inscriptions on the walls, protest slogans or spontaneous statements appearing in the public space are a record of social emotions, experiences and tensions. This form of communication, transferred to the field of visual arts, acquires new meanings, becoming an artistic material and at the same time an instrument of social manifesto.

We will talk about how the language of everyday life can be transformed into the language of art, and traditional embroidery technique become a form of rebellion, with Monika Drożyńska — a visual artist who combines embroidery with activities of a social and activist nature in her practice.

This time the inspiration for the meeting is the exhibition Word Embodied, which can be seen in the space of the Znakes of Time Contemporary Art Centre in Toruń until 8.11.2026.

Monika Drożyńska — born in 1979 in Nowy Sącz, visual artist associated with Krakow. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, where in 2004 she obtained a master's degree in the photography studio of Prof. Zbigniew Łagocki, and in 2023 she defended her doctorate under the supervision of Prof. Iwona Demko.

Her artistic practice focuses around hand embroidery, fabric in public space, language and activism. He describes his method of work as “writing embroidery”, treating embroidery as a form of communication situated between intimate handwriting and privileged print.

Her works have been presented at Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Contemporary Museum in Wroclaw, BOZAR in Brussels and Ludwig Museum in Budapest. They are in the collections of, among others, the National Museum in Krakow, POLIN, the Central Textile Museum in Łódź, NOMUS and the Lentos Kunstmuseum in Linz. In 2019 she became a laureate of the Triennial of Drawing in Wrocław and received the Grand Prix of the President of Wrocław. She is the winner of the “Polityka” Passport 2024 in the category of Visual Arts.

From the field of art/practical talks is a series of meetings with people active in various areas of the contemporary art field: from curatorial, artistic and research practice, through the creation of exhibitions, to publishing, educational, organizational and institutional activities. The starting point for each conversation is selected exhibitions presented at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Toruń. The meetings allow us to look at art from the side of processes, working methods, organizational background and relationships that co-create the contemporary artistic circulation.

Event accompanying the exhibition “The Word Embodied”.

Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.