Visual Diary
2025
Krakow, Poland
Exploring my heritage
I don’t usually write words on these visual diaries but I’ve made an exception here because it was an incredibly meaningful trip.
I was often moved to tears and I learned to listen to and follow my heart during this trip. I want to use those moments and prioritise integrating those areas of interest into my art practice.
Krakow
Exploring the city, food, being a tourist
Exploring the city, food, being a tourist
Pieskowa Skala Castle
Felt like National Trust or English Heritage but with better collections. I struggled to emotionally connect as I’m not personally interested in aristocratic history at all. With being one of the first places we went to, I was taken aback by all the Catholicism. The atmosphere in the courtyard corridors created by the sunlight/shadows was very beautiful, and my favourite bit. I could sit in those corridors and watch the sunlight move for a whole day.
Felt like National Trust or English Heritage but with better collections. I struggled to emotionally connect as I’m not personally interested in aristocratic history at all. With being one of the first places we went to, I was taken aback by all the Catholicism. The atmosphere in the courtyard corridors created by the sunlight/shadows was very beautiful, and my favourite bit. I could sit in those corridors and watch the sunlight move for a whole day.
Wieliczka Salt Mine
We have a mining history in Yorkshire so I loved the correlation. Remarkable carving.
So much Catholicism!! Reminded me of how much this iconography was around in my childhood. Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem, The Last Supper, Stages of the cross, Pope John Paul II....how home was full of these images, I went to a Catholic primary school and we went to Polish church on Sundays. These images were everywhere and I forgot! I want to look into the myth of these and study how they affect my consciousness now I’m older, do I still have a Pope in the basement?
We have a mining history in Yorkshire so I loved the correlation. Remarkable carving.
So much Catholicism!! Reminded me of how much this iconography was around in my childhood. Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem, The Last Supper, Stages of the cross, Pope John Paul II....how home was full of these images, I went to a Catholic primary school and we went to Polish church on Sundays. These images were everywhere and I forgot! I want to look into the myth of these and study how they affect my consciousness now I’m older, do I still have a Pope in the basement?
Bar Mleczny
My favourite place to eat out in Poland - humble cheap food! I love Polish Surówki, I want to make some Polish still lifes about them.
My favourite place to eat out in Poland - humble cheap food! I love Polish Surówki, I want to make some Polish still lifes about them.
I burst into tears when I saw these girls, it reminded me of when I used to wear my Polish heritage outfit as a little girl.
Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum
Folk Museum
I was moved to tears throughout the whole of the rural collection because I could see my mum’s life. She has intergrated so many things into her urban lifestyle in the UK. She has a wicker basket which I remember from childhood, we always went out to forests in autumn... she still forages mushrooms, goes strawberry picking, pickles things at home. I remember mum buying me lots of coral bead necklaces to wear as a little girl. I took all these things for granted thinking they were normal. A whole treasure trove of things to make work about.
Folk Museum
I was moved to tears throughout the whole of the rural collection because I could see my mum’s life. She has intergrated so many things into her urban lifestyle in the UK. She has a wicker basket which I remember from childhood, we always went out to forests in autumn... she still forages mushrooms, goes strawberry picking, pickles things at home. I remember mum buying me lots of coral bead necklaces to wear as a little girl. I took all these things for granted thinking they were normal. A whole treasure trove of things to make work about.
Me and mum make pisanki every Easter. I’m rubbish at it but there are loads of crafts in this collection that I was to learn and get skilled at. I want to integrate these aesthetics into my work.
We also used to exchange opłatki at Christmas time and mum has about 15 nativity scenes around the house at Christmas. I’m not even exaggerating there. I took all this for granted as normal!
I particularly love how all these things are made with really humble materials, rural materials, sustainable materials and they’re just beautiful and colourful! I want to soak all these aesthetics in and make work with these styles integrated.
We also used to exchange opłatki at Christmas time and mum has about 15 nativity scenes around the house at Christmas. I’m not even exaggerating there. I took all this for granted as normal!
I particularly love how all these things are made with really humble materials, rural materials, sustainable materials and they’re just beautiful and colourful! I want to soak all these aesthetics in and make work with these styles integrated.
I think I’m going to buy some sheep sheers and try and learn how to make these paper Wycinanki first. I’d love to make them about life growing up in England. The nature, the flowers, the birds that migrate here.... awww I’d love it
These rooms reminded me of my grandad and grandmas house in Poland when I visited them as a child. I need ask my mum more about when she went to school.
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More Polish food and kompot ![]()
MOCAK
It was like looking at a collection where Polish artists used Polish materials and contexts to create work which had a historically American elitest aesthetic and concept. It didn’t move me much. It felt a bit like perhaps the global art world forces countries to adopt these markers of taste to be taken seriously. I am hugely critical of that kind of stuff already but loved finding Abakanowicz and other contemporaries.
It was like looking at a collection where Polish artists used Polish materials and contexts to create work which had a historically American elitest aesthetic and concept. It didn’t move me much. It felt a bit like perhaps the global art world forces countries to adopt these markers of taste to be taken seriously. I am hugely critical of that kind of stuff already but loved finding Abakanowicz and other contemporaries.
Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie
National Museum Krakow - 1st floor
The first floor is a permanent collection and although again, I’m not interested in aristocratic collections, it was possibly the most beautifully curated permanent collection I’ve ever seen. (And I’ve seen a lot of museums) The rooms were decorated with different coloured velvets and were absolutely beautiful! The dark wood cabinets and gold fonts were also very beautiful.
However, I didn’t like how for example, rural life was in the Folk Museum elsewhere in the city, with a much smaller budget on white walls and the rich get all this.
It was beautifully done though.
National Museum Krakow - 1st floor
The first floor is a permanent collection and although again, I’m not interested in aristocratic collections, it was possibly the most beautifully curated permanent collection I’ve ever seen. (And I’ve seen a lot of museums) The rooms were decorated with different coloured velvets and were absolutely beautiful! The dark wood cabinets and gold fonts were also very beautiful.
However, I didn’t like how for example, rural life was in the Folk Museum elsewhere in the city, with a much smaller budget on white walls and the rich get all this.
It was beautifully done though.
It made me realise that although I grew up in London, mum chose a lot of Polish design at home that again I took for granted. We and most Polish homes have a witryna with a collection of glass crystal (which is never used), cups of tea were always in glass filiżanki, the coffee table was always covered in lace. I want to integrate all of this!
Contemporary collection - 2nd floor
This was one of my favourite places in the whole city. I had a few hours but next time I’m in Krakow I’m going back to spend the whole day just on the second floor.
I want to integrate the art history of this floor into my work.
This was one of my favourite places in the whole city. I had a few hours but next time I’m in Krakow I’m going back to spend the whole day just on the second floor.
I want to integrate the art history of this floor into my work.
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Other touristy bits and pieces around Krakow
Klasztor Kamedułów
Camaldolese Monastery
I am a spiritual tourist, as well as an art one, and we happened to be in Krakow on one of the 12 days a year that women are allowed in to visit the monastery. I know that Catholicism can be a problematic issue in Poland, but the atomsphere reminded me of Koyasan in Japan and I don’t usually feel that change of atmosphere in many places in the world. I felt a higher level of consciousness in the atmosphere. I heard monks chanting and I was moved to tears.
I couldnt help reflecting on the display of financial wealth of materials used, the marble, the gold, the frescos, the oppulence. I compared it to Triratna Buddhist Centres (I visited one in Krakow, Sanghaloka which surprisingly felt just like the centre’s in the UK). We would never create centres or shrine rooms like this, and I know that’s a deliberate and strong symbol of what’s important in our Order. Although historically incomparible, I thought I’d share both interiors because something was happening between the two for me.
Camaldolese Monastery
I am a spiritual tourist, as well as an art one, and we happened to be in Krakow on one of the 12 days a year that women are allowed in to visit the monastery. I know that Catholicism can be a problematic issue in Poland, but the atomsphere reminded me of Koyasan in Japan and I don’t usually feel that change of atmosphere in many places in the world. I felt a higher level of consciousness in the atmosphere. I heard monks chanting and I was moved to tears.
I couldnt help reflecting on the display of financial wealth of materials used, the marble, the gold, the frescos, the oppulence. I compared it to Triratna Buddhist Centres (I visited one in Krakow, Sanghaloka which surprisingly felt just like the centre’s in the UK). We would never create centres or shrine rooms like this, and I know that’s a deliberate and strong symbol of what’s important in our Order. Although historically incomparible, I thought I’d share both interiors because something was happening between the two for me.
Sanghaloka Triratna Buddhist Centre, Krakow
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