Our daily water
Agata Włodarczyk and Katarzyna Biwald are the second prize winners in the 7R Warehouse of art ‘Young art for the planet’ for the Mural Design on a fire water tank section. They talk about their inspiration and their work on the competition design.
What was the inspiration behind creating your competition design?
Katarzyna Biwald: The starting point was to consider what we really wanted to say and how we were going to present the graphic ideas that we wanted to convey in a way that would make it all easily understood and clear. I am very often inspired in my work by nature and I try to ensure that it contains some realistic element. I am inspired by specific moments. Sometimes I take photos as a starting point for later work. On the other hand Agata, more often goes for abstraction.
Agata Włodarczyk: The creative process itself was very interesting and we met each other half way. I am more inspired by fantasy, Japanese demonology, magic and horoscopes.
What is the message of your competition work?
Agata Włodarczyk: We wanted to get it across that in a few years we could have a problem with water shortages and we wanted to encourage people to do such things as collect rainwater.
Can artists influence people’s consciousness when it comes to looking after the planet, and if so how?
Agata Włodarczyk: I want to believe that artists can have an influence, and art can be a way of expressing ideas. We can try to change people’s approach to environmental questions. It’s likely that appreciating art that raises environmental questions and will change people’s behaviour in this respect.
What projects are you working on now? Can you give us any details about them?
Agata Włodarczyk: I’m working on a series of drawings of Japanese drawings. I am using coloured pencils.
Katarzyna Biwald: My current work is based on the motif of travel. I do not come from Warsaw so the journey home for me is quite a big event and a kind of ritual. The views of the countryside I see out of the window and in particular the feelings that they evoke are for me an important source of inspiration. It is not direct contact because we are separated by a pane of glass but nature motifs play an important role in my work.
Is the ecology an important part of your everyday lives?
Agata Włodarczyk, Katarzyna Biwald: Yes. We try to pay a lot of attention to those everyday actions of ours that impact the environment such as segregating waste and a vegetarian diet. We are also aware that the environment is also the responsibility of large corporations and they also have a large role to play in this regard.
About Warehouse of Art
The 7R Warehouse of art ‘Young art for the planet’ competition was open to students and graduates of Warsaw’s Academy of Fine Arts. Its guiding motto was “Technology, Ecology, People, Coexistence”. The competition requirement was to create a project of utility art with an ecological theme in one of three categories: Ergonomic seating, murals on the side of a fire water tank and an ecological 7R gadget. In total, 26 entries were submitted. The awarded projects are available at 7rwarehouseofart.pl.
