I am very happy that I can finally share it with you! And show you my collage! I was delighted to be invited by the artist Andrzej Pągowski to contribute alongside other talented artists to the 11th edition of the Gedeon Richter Artistic Calendar. The outstanding theme for the year was “Women’s energy”, and I was tasked with creating an image for the month of February that celebrated Queen Victoria and the quality of PERSEVERANCE.
Here is a little story about my work for the calendar. All of you probably know the famous phrase, “The sun never sets on the British Empire.” So, one of the first things that came to mind when I started thinking about my collage for the calendar was that there must be an image of the sun contained somewhere within. Then I began my search for a fitting portrait of the beautiful and powerful woman, Queen Victoria! But to my surprise, the more I read about her during my research, the less I liked her! Eventually, I found a photo that resonated with me more than any of the others: it depicted the famous monarch sitting at what would have been a modern spindle. So, with this image, I envisioned Queen Victoria as diligently weaving the sun itself—an acknowledgment of her patience and the progress she eventually made with her empire.
While I was working on this collage to celebrate the Queen, a curious cut-out character of a girl in a blue dress way lying on my desk for weeks, as if she was waiting to find her role in life. So it was that she found her way into this collage, and for me, she became the real heroine of the image.I envisioned this young girl in a blue dress grabbing a stool and a broom to dust off that bulky woman, Queen Victoria. Once the dust settles, the girl takes a good look at the Queen, reflecting on the monarch’s life and learning about her era — the whole 19th century. In this process, the girl creates her own narrative and understanding of history, paying her respects to the past while looking towards the future. Queen Victoria herself was an interesting and eccentric character. She loved to eat, gave birth to nine children and was 150 cm tall. She kept diaries throughout her lifetime. Upon the death of her beloved husband, she began to wear black, and continued to wear it for the rest of her days (she died several decades later). She loved terriers, and dreamed of tasting mangoes one day (but never succeeded). She struggled with her mental health, and on multiple occasions, she contemplated taking her own life.
In my collage you will also find other elements related to her life and the British Empire. For example, I have included images of Cassowaries and a Zebra. This is my tribute to her friend, the extravagant Victorian eccentric Lionel Walter Rothschild, who tried to harness Zebras to carriages on the grounds of Buckingham Palace to prove they could be tamed. He also had the world’s largest Cassowary breeding programme at that time, as they were his obsession. In addition to these extravagant animals, you will find a Locomotive and the beautiful ships of the British fleet, without which the collage of the British Empire would be incomplete…
So what else do you notice in the image? And what do you think?
The artists who were invited by Andrzej Pągowski to contribute were:
Marta Janik
Dominik Przerwa
Anna Pągowska
Magda Górska
Aleksandra Morawiak
Anna Chudzik-Pawlik
Anna Glik
Aneta Klejnowska-Karpińska
Beata Śliwińska
Jagoda Stączek
Joanna Wójcikiewicz
