Karolina GRZYWNOWICZ

Profile

Born in Poland in 1984. Lives and works in Berlin. Graduated with an MA in Comparative LiteratureArt from Jagiellonian University in 2008.
Grzywnowicz is a visual artist whose work lies at the intersection of contemporary art, research, and activism. Her practice engages with plants, animals, and bodies in social and political contexts, often marked by violence. She focuses on practices of weak resistance—everyday activities and subtle gestures with the power to oppose oppression.

Recent exhibitions and activities
2025 “IN/SOMNIA The Politics of Rest and Restlessness,” Halle für Kunst, Lüneburg, Germany
2024 “Potential Histories,” Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
2024 “Green Belt,” Watershed Art&Ecology, Chicago
2024 “Moments. SEFO TRIENNIAL,” Olomouc Museum of Art, Olomouc, Czech Republic
2021 “Everyday Forms of Resistance,” Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw

Awards
2024 CEC Artslink International Fellowship, New York/Chicago
2024 Art Residency at the French Institute of Pondicherry, India
2022 Special Prize, Warsaw Gallery Weekend, Warsaw 

About works

In recent years, I have turned to the political potential of scent. Invisible yet visceral, smell carries memory, evokes trauma, and resists control. I explore it as a tool of resistance and healing, and as a medium for communication and storytelling. My installations combine research and storytelling with embodied, sensorial experience. By bringing together different perspectives and forging unique alliances, my practice seeks to create spaces of encounter—where knowledge circulates, power shifts, and new possibilities for resistance and healing can emerge.