Iwona Demko
Graduated from the Secondary School of Fine Arts, Krosno, Poland, 1994. Received her honours diploma from the Sculpture Department, the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland, 2001. Since 2008 she has been working there at the Sculpture Department. She received her Doctor of Fine Arts degree for her thesis – Waginatyzm (Vaginatism) and Kaplica Waginy (The Chapel of Vagina) sculpture project. She received her post-doctoral degree for an exhibition she organised together with two female sex workers.
She had a scholarship at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts et des Arts Appliques (currently, Lʼinstitut supérieur des arts de Toulouse), Toulouse, France, 2000; the Creative Scholarship of the City of Krakow in sculpture, Poland, 2002; the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage scholarship, Poland, 2019.
She has had over 20 individual exhibitions in Poland and Germany, for example: the Centre of Polish Sculpture, Orońsko, Poland, 2006; Nowa Art Gallery, Poznań, Poland, 2011; Galeria Sztuki (Art Gallery) in Legnica, Poland, 2015. She has also taken part in about 100 collective exhibitions in Poland, Germany, Hungary, India, the Netherlands, and the UK, for example: UP Gallery, Berlin, Germany, 2015; Zamek Cultural Center, Poznań, 2017; MOCAK, Krakow, 2017; Centrala Art Gallery and Creative Space, Birmingham, the UK, 2018.
A feminist who is always dressed in pink, called a vagina artist. A rebel since she was born, a vegetarian for 20 years. Since 2016 she has been researching the first female students at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow (currently: the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts).
She enjoys jazz music in her free time.