JOANNA PINKIEWICZ EXHIBITION HIDDEN ICON

HIDDEN ICON

“Hidden Icon” is a body of work inspired by the profound visual and theological legacy of Polish painter Jerzy Nowosielski. Developed as a parallel exploration during Joanna’s Honours program, this project delves into Nowosielski’s iconographic language, drawing from his unique synthesis of Eastern Orthodox tradition and modernist aesthetics.

While Joanna’s primary Honours work followed a different conceptual and visual trajectory, the themes uncovered in this side project compelled her to create a series of works for public exhibition. The Polish Club Ashfield offers a fitting cultural context for this visual inquiry.

Nowosielski, trained as an icon painter before World War II, experienced a crisis of faith in its aftermath, leading him to embrace modernist painting. His oeuvre—both sacred and secular—is imbued with theological depth. Through his depictions of the female form and abstract compositions, he meditates on the tension between body and spirit, sacred and profane, often revealing a mystical inner space that invites contemplation and transcendence.

In “Hidden Icon”, Joanna interprets these ideas through a visual language that echoes Nowosielski’s bold use of contrasting colour and iconographic imagery. The works explore the interplay of concealment and revelation, inviting viewers to contemplate on the presence of the sacred in our lives.