Bio
Magdalena Gluszak-Holeksa (b. 1990) is a Polish painter and a graphic designer, who currently lives and works in UK. She grew up in the Silesian Beskids Mountain range in the South of Poland.
Throughout her practice, she draws on changing memories of the landscape surrounding her home as a metaphor for metamorphosis and as a way of building a visual language where human loss and natural cycles coexist. At the core of her process is her interest in depth psychology and how inherited beliefs and emotions form a non-verbal language within the unconscious, influencing both self-perception and our sense of belonging.
She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Wimbledon College of Arts,
UAL (2019), a PgCert in Design for Visual Communication from London College of Communication, UAL (2024) and a BA (Hons) in Photography from the Arts University Bournemouth (2014).
About
Throughout her practice, Magdalena searches for a language to explore impermanence, memory and time. The process of transforming through painting becomes an inquiry into ritual and symbolism—becoming familiar with the hidden, the uncertain and the uncontrollable. She is interested in opposites, such as hope and loss, the tension between them, and how these conflicting yet harmonizing notions influence the painting process and composition. Shifting between awareness and the subconscious, she wrestles with memories that slip her control and with knowledge that exists beyond her senses.
She is drawn to cool colour palettes, which echo the nocturnal moods of the natural environment where she grew up. Her compositions merge elements of nature, interiors and body details, retaining traces of personal photography, found images and intuitively made drawings. The organic forms merge elements of both still life and landscape, evoking the symbiosis and exchange between the dead organic matter and the living.
In this way, her paintings become extensions of personal rituals: collecting, reassembling and photographing dried flowers to incorporate their presences into her work. Never being fully one thing or another, but constantly evolving, these new memory landscapes reflect the idea of grief as perception, continually disrupting and altering her view of reality. Personal narratives and depth psychology inform the world-building in her work. Memories, conversations and stories become forms and symbols, creating landscapes that are both familiar and unfamiliar, emerging with their own logic.
Magdalena Gluszak-Holeksa (b. 1990) is a Polish painter and a graphic designer, who currently lives and works in UK. She grew up in the Silesian Beskids Mountain range in the South of Poland.
Throughout her practice, she draws on changing memories of the landscape surrounding her home as a metaphor for metamorphosis and as a way of building a visual language where human loss and natural cycles coexist. At the core of her process is her interest in depth psychology and how inherited beliefs and emotions form a non-verbal language within the unconscious, influencing both self-perception and our sense of belonging.
She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Wimbledon College of Arts,
UAL (2019), a PgCert in Design for Visual Communication from London College of Communication, UAL (2024) and a BA (Hons) in Photography from the Arts University Bournemouth (2014).
About
Throughout her practice, Magdalena searches for a language to explore impermanence, memory and time. The process of transforming through painting becomes an inquiry into ritual and symbolism—becoming familiar with the hidden, the uncertain and the uncontrollable. She is interested in opposites, such as hope and loss, the tension between them, and how these conflicting yet harmonizing notions influence the painting process and composition. Shifting between awareness and the subconscious, she wrestles with memories that slip her control and with knowledge that exists beyond her senses.
She is drawn to cool colour palettes, which echo the nocturnal moods of the natural environment where she grew up. Her compositions merge elements of nature, interiors and body details, retaining traces of personal photography, found images and intuitively made drawings. The organic forms merge elements of both still life and landscape, evoking the symbiosis and exchange between the dead organic matter and the living.
In this way, her paintings become extensions of personal rituals: collecting, reassembling and photographing dried flowers to incorporate their presences into her work. Never being fully one thing or another, but constantly evolving, these new memory landscapes reflect the idea of grief as perception, continually disrupting and altering her view of reality. Personal narratives and depth psychology inform the world-building in her work. Memories, conversations and stories become forms and symbols, creating landscapes that are both familiar and unfamiliar, emerging with their own logic.
CV
Solo exhibitions
A Mountain, Too, Has Its Thoughts, Broadway Gallery, Letchworth (2022)
Rozczlonkowanie (Dismemberment), Dom Narodowy, Cieszyn, Poland (2017)
Selected group exhibitions
Hari Art Prize, Hari Hotel, London (2025)
Breaking Bells Make No Noise, St. Barnabas Dalston (2025)
UN-TRANS-LATED, Huang Contemporary, London (2025)
Airy Disk, River Art Gallery, Taiwan (2024)
Clyde & Co Prize, London (2024)
MacFarlanes Prize, London (2024)
John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2023)
A Matter of Perspective, Liliya Art Gallery, London, 2023
South Open, OHSH Projects, London (2023)
Correspondence 01, Broadway Gallery & Exeter Phoenix Gallery (2021)
Emergent Vision, Uncovered Collective, Safe house 1, London (2020)
ARTIQ The Graduate Art Prize, Herbert Smith Freehills, London (2019)
Orbit UK, Bargehouse, OXO Tower Wharf, London (2019)
Postopia, Ugly Duck, London (2019)
Who Will Provide?, Crypt Gallery, London (2019)
Beyond the Pale, LOFT, London (2018)
Bar-Tur Award, Paradise Row Gallery, London (2011)
Awards, prizes and competitions
Hari Art Prize, Shortlist (2025)
Clyde & Co Prize, Shortlist (2024)
MacFarlanes Prize, Shortlist (2024)
John Moores Painting Prize, Exhibitor (2023)
Jackson's Art Prize, Shortlist (2023)
A-n, Professional Development Bursary (2022)
Newplatform.art, Professional Development Programme (2022)
ARTIQ Art Graduate Prize, Exhibitor (2019)
Saatchi Art Rising Stars (2019)
Jackson's Painting Prize, Shortlist (2019)
The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, 2nd Artist Grant, Canada (2018)
The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, 1st Artist Grant, Canada (2017)
Bar-Tur Award, 2nd place in Lifestyles category, London (2011)
Residencies and collaborations
Morphē Arts Residency, St Barnabas Dalston (May—October 2025)
The Letchworth Residency, Broadway Gallery, (October 2021—February 2022)
Collaboration with Oliver Kirkham, Correspondence 01, Broadway Gallery & Exeter Phoenix Gallery (2021)
Collaboration with Whitney Jade Halstead on a site specific installation Are We the Heavy Mountain We Have to Carry?, as part of Who Will Provide? exhibition at Crypt Gallery, London (2018)
Publications and interviews
The Quivering Ocean (...), Agnoscis Journal, 2nd Edition (2024)
Uncovered Collective, Interview (2023)
Trebuchet Magazine, Issue 12 (2022)
Artists Responding To...,Magazine, Issue 4 (2020)
Saatchi Art Rising Stars (2019)
Jackson's Painting Prize; Interview (2019)
Young Space; interview (2016)
Public engagements and talks
Make Good; Launch event for Agnoscis Journal, panel dicussion (2025)
In conversation with Sarah White, Broadway Gallery & Morphē Arts (2022)
Education
PgCert Design for Visual Communication (Distinction),
London College of Communication, University of the Arts London
(2023—2024)
MFA Fine Arts (Distinction),
Wimbledon College of Arts, University of the Arts London
(2017—2019)
BA (Hons) Photography,
Arts University Bournemouth
(2011—2014)
Foundation Degree in Art and Design,
Byam Shaw School of Art
(2010—2011)
Solo exhibitions
A Mountain, Too, Has Its Thoughts, Broadway Gallery, Letchworth (2022)
Rozczlonkowanie (Dismemberment), Dom Narodowy, Cieszyn, Poland (2017)
Selected group exhibitions
Hari Art Prize, Hari Hotel, London (2025)
Breaking Bells Make No Noise, St. Barnabas Dalston (2025)
UN-TRANS-LATED, Huang Contemporary, London (2025)
Airy Disk, River Art Gallery, Taiwan (2024)
Clyde & Co Prize, London (2024)
MacFarlanes Prize, London (2024)
John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2023)
A Matter of Perspective, Liliya Art Gallery, London, 2023
South Open, OHSH Projects, London (2023)
Correspondence 01, Broadway Gallery & Exeter Phoenix Gallery (2021)
Emergent Vision, Uncovered Collective, Safe house 1, London (2020)
ARTIQ The Graduate Art Prize, Herbert Smith Freehills, London (2019)
Orbit UK, Bargehouse, OXO Tower Wharf, London (2019)
Postopia, Ugly Duck, London (2019)
Who Will Provide?, Crypt Gallery, London (2019)
Beyond the Pale, LOFT, London (2018)
Bar-Tur Award, Paradise Row Gallery, London (2011)
Awards, prizes and competitions
Hari Art Prize, Shortlist (2025)
Clyde & Co Prize, Shortlist (2024)
MacFarlanes Prize, Shortlist (2024)
John Moores Painting Prize, Exhibitor (2023)
Jackson's Art Prize, Shortlist (2023)
A-n, Professional Development Bursary (2022)
Newplatform.art, Professional Development Programme (2022)
ARTIQ Art Graduate Prize, Exhibitor (2019)
Saatchi Art Rising Stars (2019)
Jackson's Painting Prize, Shortlist (2019)
The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, 2nd Artist Grant, Canada (2018)
The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, 1st Artist Grant, Canada (2017)
Bar-Tur Award, 2nd place in Lifestyles category, London (2011)
Residencies and collaborations
Morphē Arts Residency, St Barnabas Dalston (May—October 2025)
The Letchworth Residency, Broadway Gallery, (October 2021—February 2022)
Collaboration with Oliver Kirkham, Correspondence 01, Broadway Gallery & Exeter Phoenix Gallery (2021)
Collaboration with Whitney Jade Halstead on a site specific installation Are We the Heavy Mountain We Have to Carry?, as part of Who Will Provide? exhibition at Crypt Gallery, London (2018)
Publications and interviews
The Quivering Ocean (...), Agnoscis Journal, 2nd Edition (2024)
Uncovered Collective, Interview (2023)
Trebuchet Magazine, Issue 12 (2022)
Artists Responding To...,Magazine, Issue 4 (2020)
Saatchi Art Rising Stars (2019)
Jackson's Painting Prize; Interview (2019)
Young Space; interview (2016)
Public engagements and talks
Make Good; Launch event for Agnoscis Journal, panel dicussion (2025)
In conversation with Sarah White, Broadway Gallery & Morphē Arts (2022)
Education
PgCert Design for Visual Communication (Distinction),
London College of Communication, University of the Arts London
(2023—2024)
MFA Fine Arts (Distinction),
Wimbledon College of Arts, University of the Arts London
(2017—2019)
BA (Hons) Photography,
Arts University Bournemouth
(2011—2014)
Foundation Degree in Art and Design,
Byam Shaw School of Art
(2010—2011)