XY Anka Mierzejewska

XY Anka Mierzejewska

Piece of Peace

Introduction
In my work, I try to capture an awakening consciousness – subtle yet powerful emotional currents that shape the rhythm of the contemporary world.
Painting, for me, is a space where intellect, spirituality, and the physical energy of gesture come together. I like to paint broadly, fluidly, as if the images were created in motion.
I work in cycles. I create large compositions in pure, often contrasting colors. A strong contour organizes forms that seem to transcend the boundaries of the canvas. I like to combine wide color fields with delicate lines.
In the studio, I feel as if I’m in a laboratory – a place of experimentation, trial, and error.
The human being is closest to me. When painting a figure, I search for what is not obvious – the inner and the universal.

Journey
I grew up in Poland in the 1980s. I remember the limitations, the fear, the lack of freedom of expression, the control, and the greyness of everyday life. At that time, there were few colors – and little freedom.
You couldn’t watch Western films or listen to Western radio stations. The subject of war was constantly present.
When Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, those emotions returned – fear, tension, a sense of threat. I then painted a series of children surrounded by tape – a symbolic gesture of protection from evil. I told myself that if the war reached the doors of my studio in three days, I would build a raft out of my paintings and sail away.
After 1989, during the time of rapid transformation, I felt that art was marginalized – people had other priorities, they were rebuilding their lives from scratch. I was learning what it meant to remain true to myself in a world that didn’t always offer space for creative growth.
I lived in a state of struggle – defense and tension.
At some point, I read Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching. That encounter slowly changed my thinking. For more than ten years, I have been exploring what it means to live in a state of peace.
This has led to the creation of several series: I am just ready to be me, The Body of Thought, Vaccinated with Art, and later Piece of Peace, which I continue in 2025.
I don’t paint events, but states of being – inner peace. I’m not interested in waving a flag that says “I will fight for peace until my last drop of blood.” There are no weapons or confrontations here. There is trust.

Reflection
What troubles me most today is the realization that despite the experience of World War II, people still cannot find understanding.
Polarization, the lack of dialogue, and the difficulty of expressing needs without violence – these are phenomena I observe and that permeate my work.
My inspirations include Marshall Rosenberg (Nonviolent Communication), the Hawaiian method Ho’oponopono, Colin Tipping (Radical Forgiveness), the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti, Esther Perel, and Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching.
I see how necessary it is to learn communication based on respect. It’s a practice I try to live by, and one that echoes in my paintings of recent years.
Now I paint people who don’t need words – who communicate through silence, gesture, and gaze. My figures have a spiritual dimension – they are an attempt to open up to another person, to others.

Form
I remember the greyness of PRL as a state of mind – a lack of color, a sense of temporariness, mediocrity.
My reaction is pure, luminous, intense color. Now I choose the colors of water – the sea, the ocean – because water is, for me, a place of safety and resets the mind.
It is a primordial environment where one can submerge and return to factory settings.
I paint in search of simplicity. Often I leave “space” – a gap – between the form and the background. It’s a place of autonomy, of breath. Even during my studies, I began painting whole canvases in one color, leaving only that essential space, so that each form could feel free. Later I abandoned this approach, treating it as a challenge to free myself from the temptation of mannerism. That approach I have applied already in my early nudes, later for instance in the God Dog series, and it has remained ever since.
I often use a limited color palette. I experiment with texture, brush movement, and paint layers. Painting is for me both dynamic and meditative.
I enjoy drawing with charcoal and pastels – it requires a different kind of focus, a more intimate trace.
The figures I paint have no age, gender, or race. I am interested in the human being, universally – as a being in relation to others and to oneself.

Conclusion
The series inspired by Taoist philosophy is, for me, a reflection on peace – the inner peace that begins within each of us.
In a world marked by conflict – in Ukraine, Israel, Palestine – I try to speak about a calm that is not indifference but a deep trust in life.
My paintings are an attempt to find that space of peace and shared humanity.