Małgorzata Mirga – Tas
Małgorzata Mirga-Tas (born 1978)
Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, a sculptor from a Roma family in Podhale, Poland, has woven her heritage deeply into her art from the outset of her career. Initially drawing from the rich Roma traditions, including painting, her distinctive personal style soon emerged through her use of vibrant patchwork techniques. Her works often manifest as screens, vividly depicting the daily life within her community. At the 2022 Venice Biennale, she adorned the Polish Pavilion with such artworks, creating three parallel friezes that encircled the walls to weave an intricate narrative about the history and current experiences of the Roma in Europe. Mirga-Tas is also noted for creating a monument to the Memory of the Roma Genocide in Borzęcin. After vandalism, she poignantly reconstituted its broken pieces in wax, a material of deep cultic and symbolic significance to her community. Her recent sculptures frequently draw upon Roma legends, integrating animal symbolism—such as the bear—and employing materials connected to Roma culture, like wooden boards and soot.
Beyond her artistic endeavours, Mirga-Tas actively engages in social projects aimed at combating exclusion, racial discrimination, and xenophobia. Her international exhibition footprint is substantial, including appearances at the Berlin Biennale (2020), Documenta in Kassel (2022), and the Venice Biennale (2023). Her work has been showcased at notable institutions such as MAK in Vienna, HKW in Berlin, Fondazione Prada in Milan, Museum Rijswijk, and both the Guangzhou Triennial and Guangdong Museum of Art in China. As a distinguished participant at last year’s Gwangju Biennale in South Korea, she represented the Euro-Atlantic world.
Her solo exhibitions have graced Kunsthaus Zurich, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo in Seville, Frith Street Gallery in London, Brücke Museum in Berlin, Göteborgs Konsthall in Gothenburg, The Living History Forum in Stockholm, and Karma International in Zurich. Upcoming exhibitions are scheduled at the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht and Tate St. Ives. Mirga-Tas continues to reside in her native village of Czarna Góra in Podhale.