Olga Anacka

Residency - 22nd October to 30th October 2025

In the residency, Olga intends to further casing skills and produce resin and cement objects of varied complexity. These items will be incorporated into a new sculptural installation on the topic of family dynamics and migrant experience.

About Patching Femininity – 2023/2024

In Patching Femininity, artist Olga Anacka explores and challenges visual representations of femininity and the female body in the popular culture.

Comprising a dozen embroidered tapestries, this body of work is very personal, with images derived from the artist’s memory and family archive, juxtaposed with symbolic representations of the feminine drawn from internet searches and commonplace stereotypes.

The artist examines the subject from the perspective of a mature, migrant woman who has experienced significant social change. In an honest conversation, she questions what is expected as feminine and attempts to define her personal position.

In developing this exhibition, the artist references Polish Critical Art of the 1990s, the work of Alicja Żebrowska, Ela Jabłońska, Zbigniew Libera and Anna Baumgart. She is inspired by authors such as Catherine Blackledge and Annie Ernaux, as well as memoirs of Kazimiera Czerniec who was her great-great-aunt born circa 1890.

About Beauty Myths – 2024/2025

Beauty Myths is a collaborative project between Olga Anacka and Riverbank Arts Centre.

With Beauty Myths Olga questions how to reconcile people’s ideas and experience of femininity. In her practice, Olga Anacka explores the cultural systems that appropriate and objectify the female body. She references ways in which the female body is often scrutinized, seen as an object for beauty, comfort or pleasure, often at odds with the body’s natural processes.

Over two weeks in February, Olga invited members of the public to join her in the McKenna Gallery during her Artist Residency, where she created new artworks and engaged in conversations with invited guests and the public. During this time, Olga created an original tapestry in collaboration with visitors, centred on the theme of female beauty and femininity.

About Animal Therapy - 2025

This work was created for Touch Kildare Arts Collective group exhibition in Riverbank, 2025. It explores the role of animals trained to provide emotional support, a role that relies heavily on physical interaction—particularly touch. In recent years, societal perspectives on animal care and ethics have evolved significantly. My sculpture reflects on this shift by re-creating a cat using donated and thrifted fur and leather garments, with a hand-carved polychromed basswood head. The audience is encouraged to touch the object.

Main Image - Propensity, Beauty Myths series, McKenna Gallery, 2025