When being in the mountains, there are moments when one experiences a strong bond with na-ture. In this moment the distinction between object and subject no exist. Separation becomes an illusion..
During a severe snowstorm, when you are in the middle of a mountain wall and your life is at stake, your conscience achieves new level of clarity. The world around you, its colors, intensify. My painting is an attempt to capture this moment, this mystical relationship between man and nature.”
As long as she can remember, Iza Gronowska Gajda always drew, mainly horses. Born in War-saw, she spent much of her childhood in her father’s riding center. But she also had a different, deeper passion – the mountains. After graduating from school, she left the urban landscape and moved to the Tatra mountains mesmerized by their raw beauty.
Challenging mountain climbing is like a death dance during which question arise on one’s sense of existence, what it means and whether there is a higher power out there. In search of these an-swers, she graduated with a degree in Philosophy from the University Jagiellonski in Krakow. At the same time, she worked as a mountain guide and writer for a Polish magazine – “Tatry”, something she continues to that day. Her content relates not only to mountains and nature but also explores the confrontation with one’s own fear, sudden death, risk and going beyond the comfort zone.
After a while, the Polish mountains became too small for her. She travelled thousands of kilome-ters hitchhiking in search for space to live. She moved to the Italian town of Courmayer at the foot of Mont Blanc where she continued developing her appetite for climbing and lead moun-tain tours in the Alps.
The initial need to draw was put aside. Only a series of traumatic events awoke again this pas-sion. A back surgery and a long rehabilitation process followed by move to the German Alps were the main turning points. She re-started to draw and began painting in 2019.