Joanna Pawlik graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, where she studied at the Faculty of Painting from 1994 to 1999 and received her diploma in the studio of Prof. Leszek Misiak. In 2018, she obtained a PhD in visual arts at the Faculty of Arts of the Pedagogical University KEN in Kraków.
Joanna Pawlik is a visual artist and performer. In her practice, she proposes a radical strategy of presence: the disabled female body, exposed to the gaze of others, becomes both a medium of art and a tool of social critique. Drawing on the tradition of feminist art, Pawlik introduces the perspective of disability studies, redefining the meaning of corporeality that diverges from normative standards. Her practice has a political dimension – it is an act of resistance against marginalisation and an attempt to imagine new forms of community.
The starting point for Joanna Pawlik’s art is the intimate issue of her own disability, which she later expands by incorporating works by amateur artists into her exhibitions. By creating coherent statements together with other “performers of life”, in the form of exhibitions she curates and performances she directs, the artist modifies the tenor of amateur works. In Pawlik’s art, the process of creating the works is as important as their “autonomous” existence. Building relationships, overcoming barriers, repeating improvised stories and increasing the activity of socially disabled people lie at the core of Joanna Pawlik’s artistic practice. The artist seeks to bring about change and facilitate the authors’ “coming out”, which literally means leaving the house. She herself had to confront the experience of being stared at when, after years of feeling ashamed, she finally revealed her disability by showing her personal artworks to the public.