In conversation with Monika Marchewka: Making space for female experiences

Born in 1988 and based in Gdynia, a port city on the Baltic coast of Poland, Monika Marchewka is deeply inspired by nature and is particularly drawn to the sea. Her paintings often feature serene beaches with soft, gentle waves crashing against the shore or fluffy white clouds floating in clear skies. After graduating from the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków in 2013, Marchewka worked on the world’s first fully painted film, where each frame is handpainted, Loving Vincent. She then went on to work on the critically acclaimed film The Peasants and in November 2024, her work was featured in the Artistellar’s exhibition, Whispers of Shared Melodies.

From the 4th to the 8th of November, Marchewka’s beautifully feminine works will feature in Women in the Picture, an exhibition that focuses on the importance of female subjectivity in the art world. It provides a platform for budding and established artists alike to come together and reinvent the lens that has historically objectified women. In an exclusive interview with the artist, Marchewka talks about the cinematic quality of her work, her journey as an animator and painter and her reflections on this upcoming exhibition.

Monika Marchewka, Delicatessen (2024), courtesy of the artist and Artistellar

In an interview, you once said, “I choose frames and topics in such a way that if I wanted to make a film based on them, they are a ready-made storyboard”. Could you walk us through your process of creating a painting? Where does it usually begin for you?

I still treat my paintings like a storyboard. With every new series, I can see how a coherent story begins to take shape - at least for me. I think it’s a bit like writing a book: a writer more or less knows where their character is headed, and in the same way, I have a sense of where I want to pause and reveal my current world.

My paintings are like postcards from a journey or perhaps, postcards from dreams. What has happened to my protagonist? What has moved her? I drift seamlessly from ocean voyages to sweet lands where we stop for a moment to rest. My intention was to step out of the water for a while, and that’s when I began to think about what might come next in the story.

What could happen on these new, unknown shores? How would the experience of travel shape this newly arrived figure? I search for answers to questions like these and it’s precisely this curiosity that leads me to the next painting.

You have worked as an animator and in film, how has that experience shaped your artistic vision and practice?

I think, above all, I’ve learned not to get too attached to the current state of a painting. Everything can be painted over, erased, changed. What’s underneath doesn’t matter that much to me anymore, because I know it’s all part of the process.

When I work on a painting animation, each finished frame - once it’s photographed - is scraped off and started again. No matter how beautiful it might be, it has to go. It’s about quantity first, quality later.

This way of working allows me to take risks and experiment more freely. It’s better to create a small something than a grand nothing.

Monika Marchewka, True Colours (2024), courtesy of the artist and Artistellar

This exhibition features your works Touch, Delicatessen, and True Colours. How do you see these pieces engaging with the exhibition’s theme of subverting the male gaze? How does your work engage with the idea of “Women in the Picture”?

In these works, Touch, Delicatessen, and True Colours, I’m exploring intimacy, sensitivity, and the quiet moments of femininity that are often overlooked or simplified through the lens of the traditional male gaze. My paintings invite a different kind of looking - one that is tender, introspective, and grounded in personal experience rather than external desire.

I see Women in the Picture not as a subject to be observed, but as a narrator of her own story. The details - a hand, a piece of ribbon, a cup of tea - are fragments of her inner world, symbols of softness and strength existing side by side. They aren’t about seduction or spectacle; they’re about presence, emotion, and the delicate rituals of being.

Through pastel tones, shimmering textures, and dreamlike settings, I aim to reclaim the visual language of femininity, to show that gentleness can also be power. My work questions who holds the gaze and offers an alternative: a space where the female experience is portrayed through empathy, not objectification.

These works attempt to create a space where femininity no longer needs to explain or justify itself. A soft world, full of quiet and light — a space where there is no judgment but empathy.

Marchewka will be joined by seven powerful female artists: Konstantina Krikzoni, Ewa Juszkiewicz, Gal Schindler, Oriele Steiner, Stefania Tejada, Lindsay Bull and the legendary photographer Lee Miller. Similar to Marchewka, they all bring their own vision of creating space for diverse female perspectives on the canvas, channeling both empathy and strength. 

This exhibition is a great opportunity to not only view their works in person but also witness the magic they create with each other, a celebration of womanhood. View more details here.