Barbara Mydlak

Barbara Mydlak (b. 1987, Poland), PhD in the Arts, cur­rent­ly based in Ghent, Belgium and works internationally.

In her prac­ti­ce, various artis­tic media intertwi­ne with tra­di­ti­o­nal crafts, new tech­no­lo­gies, natu­re and sci­en­ti­fic research. She cre­a­tes lar­ge-sca­le hand­ma­de paper instal­la­ti­ons, incor­po­ra­ting dis­car­ded plants and explo­ring their scents, pig­ments, hea­ling pro­per­ties and decom­po­si­ti­on. Her works are often com­bi­ned with expe­ri­men­tal film, pho­to­grap­hy, pre­ci­se docu­men­ta­ti­on of the pro­cess and research, sound or interactivity.

From 2008 to 2011, Mydlak studied archaeology at the University of Warsaw. In 2017, she graduated with honours from the Faculty of Visual Arts at the Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, Poland. Subsequently, in 2020 she completed Interdisciplinary Doctoral Studies at the Faculty of Painting and Drawing, Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Fine Arts in Poznan and obtained a PhD in the Arts with distinction in 2024. From 2019 to 2021 she was a lecturer at the Faculty of Design, Academy of Fine Arts in Szczecin. She has given guest lectures and workshops at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China Academy of Art (CAA) in Hangzhou, Tainan National University of The Arts (TNNUA), IHECS Brussels and others. In September 2022, she opened her art studio in Ghent, thanks to the Nucleo Kunstenaars Ateliers programme.

Barbara Mydlak is currently conducting a series of research tests on handmade paper made from plant remnants in cooperation with Re-Source Lab, the Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering and Ghent Botanical Garden, Ghent University.