Iwona ChmielewskaThe Picturebook Architect and Philosopher

The title of this essay addresses the essence of Iwona Chmielewska's art—the unique and perfect combination of theme and form her picturebooks embody. Her works create an imaginary space for a dialogue in which the boundaries of age, gender, or ability are deliberately blurred. The artist portrays a holistic vision of the human being, which acknowledges the universal value of an individual's creative engagement in the world. Her art can be seen as a form of encouragement to freely express feelings, and to dream. Through her creative narrative use of uncomplicated visual tools which communicate universal themes appealing to different audiences, Chmielewska emphasizes the value of childlike imagination and unrestrained playfulness, communicating her message persuasively to readers of all ages.

A graduate of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Faculty of Fine Arts), Chmielewska began her career illustrating or rather, as she says herself, visually accompanying poetry (Chmielewska qtd. in Frąckiewicz 325). She did not work with particular poems but tried to capture the poetry's mood, tone, and experience. However, it is in the area of picture-books where she discovered and developed her full artistic potential. As during her studies the impact of the teaching was on the abstract and formalist and, consequently, against figural or narrative representation, it follows that no one taught her the picture-book art she employs. Chmielewska developed her approach largely through self-education, careful observation, and experimentation.

Iwona Chmielewska has written many and illustrated all of her picturebooks, of which there have been more than thirty books by now. Polish-born and based, she has been promoted and cherished in many parts of the world, with possibly the biggest fame enjoyed in South Korea and now her home-land, Poland. Surprisingly, there are regions where Chmielewska's books have not been translated or published, such as English-speaking countries or Scandinavia. The word "surprisingly" is here for a reason, bearing in mind the number and prestige of the awards and prizes Chmielewska has received for her work. In 2007, she was awarded the BIB Golden Apple for Thinking ABC, a picturebook dealing with the English alphabet. The years 2011 and 2013 brought her the most prestigious awards in illustration, namely the Bologna Ragazzi Awards, first in the category of non-fiction (MAUM) and two years later in fiction (Eyes).

Why has Iwona's art been awarded the most honorable prizes in the field of children's literature and book illustration? Why has she become the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen nominee? One of the fundamental aspects of Iwona Chmielewska's work—the one that perhaps only partly answers these questions—is her approach of an architect. Each work she creates is carefully designed, pre-planned, conceptually complex, and leaves abundant space for the reader's interpretation. The visual effect is impressive, but it is a kind of a side effect, not the aim in itself; the books are not so much to please or impress the readers with their aesthetics (although the books are beautiful and emotionally immersive); their strength lies primarily in carefully and consciously selected visual language, which has enormous impact on how we read and what we see.

If the artist is an architect of books, it means that her books should be inviting spaces—special worlds that offer us the possibility to think, to discover new things, to find our own humanity. Chmielewska's books are hospitable in the sense that they invite the reader to ponder on various aspects of human experience; they give us the space to think, to slow down. The artist depicts diverse aspects of existence, which often link the personal and the social, and they integrate individual and collective stories and identities. Iwona Chmielewska creates in her works intimate, emotional stories in which she tackles the most fundamental existential dilemmas: turmoil connected with growing up and ageing and the experience of adolescence and parenthood. She is also interested in ethical questions—very much so in the books that evoke the memory of the Second World War...