About
Bio
Olga Anacka is a migrant conceptual artist working in mixed media from her Newbridge studio. She was born in 1977 in Poland. She graduated from University of the Arts in Poznan in 2004. A year later, she won a distinction in Olsztyn Art Biennial for the metal and clay installation, part of Sacred Landscapes series. Her Cocoons, fabric sculptures from ME<MATERNITY project, were shortlisted for Celeste Prize 2011 in Rome and 2012 New York. Olga also received ARTstap Open Submission Award in 2012 for the same body of work, and shortly after took a break in her art career until 2019. She partakes in Cill Rialaig project and is a member of Visual Artists Ireland as well as Kildare Arts Collective. She was awarded Tyrone Guthrie Residency 2023 and Arts Act Grant 2024 from Kildare County Council.
Art Statement
I am a mixed media visual artist who has developed a unique approach to the art process where old materials are upcycled and reused to reduce waste and support the circular economy. I blend practical skills and techniques in search of new solutions to create my prints, paintings, tapestries, and sculptural objects.
My practice is informed by the environment. I perceive the world from the perspective of a mature woman who has experienced social changes triggered not only by varied stages of life and time passing but also by a migrant background. Through art, I comment, praise, or question the reality relevant to me, aiming to stimulate the audience to critical thinking regarding obvious, often stereotypical aspects of life.
I am inspired by Polish Critical Art of the 1990s and contribute to the discourse on identity concerning feminism, the human condition, and the ecology of places.

Studio shot, Newbridge, 25/04/2024
Paintings
Cocoons
ME < MATERNITY project
Texts
ME < MATERNITY project – series of feminine cocoons
When I was a child, all around was magical and undefined. Women of my childhood were always busy with crafty works, especially a grandma who was a tailor. She passed her skills to 3 daughters, so I am used to having scraps of materials popped in corners of a house, also colourful threads and buttons laying everywhere. Women in my family came easily from stirring meal to sewing, knitting, embroidering, composing flowers and so on. The work was left at their fingertips, waiting to go on with it. So is my art nowadays.
This body of work was created in a span of 8 years during winter stormy nights, which are very common in the area where I dwell. I had young children at that time. I felt enormous solitude because of living in a foreign country, taking any odd jobs to survive, in general being stuck in the house. This feeling shaded another - the need to care for and protect my family.
In the process of creation, I referred to old craftsmanship, in particular house-holding works carried by woman in the old days to feel safe and in the right place again.