Issue 42 of KOLAJ, a magazine devoted to contemporary collage art, was published at the end of August 2025 with my collage on the cover. Inside the issue, you can read my answers to the questions asked by Anthony D. Kelly. I am publishing the interview below.
The editors of Kolaj Magazine wrote:
“God is on the cover of Kolaj 42″ is not a sentence we thought we would ever write but in this case it refers to the delightful collage by Warsaw, Poland-based artist Marta Janik. The article “Hybrid Narratives” is an interview with her by fellow collagist and sometimes collaborator Anthony D Kelly. Janik said, “Words are important to me. I love metaphors, comparisons. I follow tropes and myths. I think there is a lot of that in my collages. I think my works always tell a story.”
Kolaj Magazine is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, by Maison Kasini (also known as Kasini House).
And this is us in Warsaw, Anthony D. Kelly and myself. I was very happy to have this conversation with this wonderful artist!
Anthony D. Kelly: You have a Master in Polish Literature. Can you tell about how literature shows up in your visual arts practice?
Me: Literature is very important to me and it has influenced and continues to influence who I am and what I do. I am interested in different ways of narrating, ways of telling stories, but also in poetry, which, after all, can describe the world and us best. Words are important to me. I love m etaphors, comparisons, I follow tropes and myths. I think there is a lot of that in my collages. I think my works always tell a story. I call them narrative. A crocodile came to my mind. In one of the Polish dramas written during the Romantic era, there is actually a crocodile. I cannot cut out the crocodile without thinking about this very literary context. I know that foreign audiences certainly won’t know about it, but that doesn’t stop the collages at all. So around the crocodile I build a world. I play with it. The girl reaching for the apple will always be a bit of Eve for me, the naked woman in the meadow the meadow nymph Limoniades from Greek mythology, and so on. I like to change contexts, perspectives. To play and have fun. Creating collages are my conversations with literature and art.
But also to go deeper into topics. That’s also what my studies taught me: interpetation and exploration of topics. I like to take part in projects that require me to do some decent research. I can think back to my recent residency at the Kolaj Institute, which involved illustrating Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, or the project I was invited to take part in by Ric Kasini, Artist in Archives, where collage artists from different countries were asked by The Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History in Middlebury to make collages based on old photographs from the vast archives. It was a great pleasure. Digging through archives, finding old photos, cutting out elements is always like giving new life. I love this feeling.
My studies also allowed me to explore one of the topics that interests me most: the subject of kitsch. I have spent a lot of time researching banality, clichés and kitsch itself in literature and art.
I think that at the core of my creation is a quote from the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal, ‘Life is terrible, but I have decided that it is beautiful.’ This is what I stick to.
Plants, wildlife and other creatures feature prominently in your work. Tell me more about your relationship with the natural world and how you explore it with collage?
The so-called natural world is the most important thing, and of course it is important to remember that we humans are part of it, too. I am interested in man’s relationship with the natural environment. I like the non-atropocentric perspective and at the same time I find it difficult to break away from it. What is my relationship with nature? What is nature? After all, I am also part of nature. Where did this dichotomy even come from? In the collages, plants, fungi, animals, but also humans come first. It all never ceases to amaze me. I like to discover different stories, for example. In Argentina, and only there, lives the pink fairy armadillo. It is beautiful. So is its name. I like to give it a collage home. Cutting out this animal and putting it in my illustrations is like finger-pointing: People! Check it out! There are dwarf pufferfish living in the world! They are pink!
I think there is not enough wonder around us. We think we already know everything and that we have seen everything. This is not true. I have various old albums of animals and plants in my collection. Sometimes I cut something out because it’s just pretty. But then I go on: what is it actually? It is pretty, but what is its name, where does it live, grow? What characteristics does it have? This always leads me into fascinating, completely new areas. And because I like surrealism, I sometimes allow myself to create completely new plants and animals – strange hybrids.
Within your work there are often strong characters, stories or situations occurring. What kind of stories do you most like to tell?
I like to fantasise, to play, to make up private fairy tales. I like the absurd, the surreal. I reach for it all. Yes, my puffballs talk, mushrooms dress up in their best suits, flowers are gigantic. I create my own mythology. My own world. In collage, anything is possible. A shark in a pink dress? A princess with a tiger’s head? A rooster with the head of a toucan? I wonder what these characters want to say. That’s why it happens that I interview the characters in my illustrations, e.g. the woman who has a lily instead of a head, the man – he was holding a shovel but I gave him a big iris instead…. Since then his life has been more pleasant…. My stories are often bittersweet. Just like life! I would like to publish a book of these conversations soon.
In the last number of years you curated a large outdoor exhibition entitled Migration/ Migracje which opened simultaneously in Poland and Ireland. Can you tell me a little bit about this experience?
I was invited by Caroline Conway, organiser of Birr Vintage Week & Art Festival in Ireland, to come up with an international collage exhibition. We had previously collaborated on a project (with the Kolaj Institute) called ‘Empty Columns are a place to dream’. I thought of migration, at the time I didn’t yet know that after Russia’s attack on Ukraine the topic would take on a new meaning.
The exhibition aimed to show the approach to the theme of ‘migration’ of collage artists from different countries. The artists were asked to make a collage on the theme of ‘migration’ and to share their migration experiences. The collages were exhibited during the 54th Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival in Birr, Ireland, from 29 July to 7 August 2022 and at the same time in Warsaw. It was a new experience for me, I had a say in which artists I invited to the project, and I dared to invite artists I have admired for years, such as Maria Filek and Sherry Parker, as well as an artist whose work has had a great influence on me and who is my favourite collage artist: Lou Beach.
You also recently completed a month at the Áras Éanna Residency on Inis Oírr, an island off the west coast of Ireland. Tell me what you discovered there?
I was very happy to be there. I discovered what it is like to have a big studio with a big desk at my disposal. It was a totally unusual experience also because of the view from the window: the ocean, and there was always a horse grazing outside the window. The island seemed like an oasis to me, I was lucky with the weather, I experienced the aurora borealis there and also a big storm. I was alone with myself. I sat on the shore for hours, staring at the waves, and the greatest pleasure was meeting the animals: cows, donkeys and horses. They moved me a lot. I am grateful to Áras Éanna’s artistic director, Dara McGee, for giving me complete freedom. It was a supportive residency but also allowed me to take a step forward in my artistic practice. I used this time to draw, create collages and linocuts and I have yet to make a short animated film based on my work. I wish every artist had this kind of experience.
You once told me that you are really interested in how collage artists find their own personal collage language. What are the three most important words in your own collage language?
I am fascinated by this question. Do we create this language ourselves, or are we born with it? For that matter, are we its slaves? This is an interesting question, because I think the truth lies in the middle. Our own unique language is definitely something we are born with. After all, if you ask different people to draw a line with a pencil, everyone’s line will be different. But we can improve our lines, work on them and rebel against them. What is my personal language of collage? I started creating because I wanted to find out. Whether it would be graspable in some way, definable. It was interesting for me to see what I started to cut out, why, what I liked more, what I liked less. To discover my own unique language. I encourage this in collage workshops. Sometimes people are lost, they don’t know where to start. I recommend starting by leafing through albums, newspapers. Sooner or later we will like an illustration more than others. Then we have to cut it out. This is the best start. I think the three words that are important for my language are: story, humour, colour.
You have facilitated collage workshops at the National Museum of Caricature, Libraries, Antique Bookshops, Culture Centres and many other sites throughout Warsaw. Can you tell me what you enjoy most about this aspect of your practice?
I am always most interested in people. The groups are different, it’s difficult, especially for young people, to get interested in something. Children and teenagers also have problems holding scissors. It can be difficult. But there is always someone who sits quietly and makes the most wonderful pictures. Beauty is often hidden, sometimes you have to wait for it. Every workshop is a challenge, but also an adventure.
So what’s next for Marta Janik?
I think collage is a great illustration technique. I want to go in that direction. Our collaborative book Fleadom is nearing completion. Fleadom is a raucous, fun-filled journey through life in an extravagant Flea Circus. In this magical setting, fleas, animals and humans work together as equals to perform wondrous and reality-defying stunts. Under our little big mountain, we learn that creatures and people don’t have to be big to be important or do amazing things.
Rich with tiny details, hidden meanings, and historical and cultural references, this is a book that invites parents and children to delve into its pages and explore its magical world again and again, each time finding some new and interesting details that elaborate on the colourful universe within.
I put my whole heart and head into this book. It is my beloved project. It is an expression of my fascination with the circus and a huge joy to create together with you. I think there is some magic at work here and I am very grateful for this experience. I have learnt a lot working as a duo.
So yes, I intend to create more illustrations and animations, as I am also busy making my collages move. This is also where I have a lot to explore.
