My Story — Monika Cicolella

I was born in 1977 in Pabianice, a small city in the center of Poland.

I was a dreaming little girl spending much of my time outside, playing every afternoon in the courtyard of the collective outdoor playground from that communist time. The games of my childhood followed the rhythm of the seasons. In spring I was happy to cut and sell Lilac to passers-by on the street. In summer, I played with leaves and mud. In fall, with the whole family, we picked up mushrooms in the wide beautiful forest nearby. In winter, it was much too cold and dark to do anything outside so I preferred to play with fabric and buttons in my parents' workshop.

My childhood was modest, sweet and simple and strongly connected to Nature. There was no limit to my imagination and the surrounding world was a permanent source of inspiration and curiosity.

This is probably why I had the feeling very early on that my life would be different from others'. I didn't want to conform to normality. I wanted to live an inspiring life and I knew that I needed to invent it and take a different path.

Learning was a key step towards this path. The more I learnt, the more I became curious and eager to learn.

I learned German and English and worked hard to finance language courses in Germany. I graduated from my Business School in Lodz in 2 years instead of 3. The same year, in 1999, I was accepted to do an M.A in Political Sciences at Warsaw School of Economics - one of the most prestigious universities in Poland - and to a very selective program organized by the German Parliament, where I worked as a parliamentary assistant.

In Berlin, I met my future husband, who is French. We were very enthusiastic about the future, full of dreams and ready to conquer the world. I decided then to learn French and to complete my studies with an M.A in European Affairs in Paris and London.

These 6 months in London changed my life. Remembering this period, I still have tears in my eyes. Every day after my study time, I would be visiting museums, discovering another part of the world History of Art. The National Gallery was like my second home. The free entrance allowed me to go there almost every day, sometimes just for 20 minutes to admire a masterpiece. I spent weeks studying History of Art just by myself. For the first time in my life, I was totally connected to the world of Art. My passion for Art probably started there and continues until today.

Coming back to France, I finished my studies in Paris and started to work for a large company. For 5 years, I tried to find my place and comply with the model of the "successful" life. Progressively, I felt disconnected, living an artificial life.

What was the sense of spending entire days in an office or commuting, working hard for no recognition, trying to tick the right boxes whatever the price ? My feeling of disconnection grew even stronger when I became a mother and I could only see my child late in the evening. I didn't realize at that time that I had forgotten the little dreaming girl that I was and her will to take a different path. I was struggling every day to live a "normal life" and fit into a pre-defined model as if there was no other option.

Just after the birth of my second child in 2011, my life changed radically. My husband was appointed to Shanghai and we moved to China.

I took this expatriation as a chance to reconnect with myself and with Art. Just a few days after our arrival, I joined an Art school and felt immediately in love with Chinese ink painting. For 3 years, I studied ink painting and calligraphy with Chinese masters. I also learned Mandarin and studied poems from Tang and Song dynasties. I discovered Chinese ceramics and traditional embroidery from minorities, who had a great influence on my first paintings.

Living in China was a fantastic opportunity to feed my curiosity and to learn about traditional and contemporary Art. I have taken roots in different cultures through my travels in Asia, in Australia and in New Zealand. These roots continue to nourish my work until now.

In 2013, I started to create my own series, mixing Chinese ink painting with my Western techniques and references. Beside my participation to several collective exhibitions in 2013 and 2014, I organized my first individual exhibition in 2014 and was happy to immediately sell my artwork. The feedback on my paintings were very positive. So I decided to complete my transformation and to become an artist.

After a short stay in France in 2015, our expatriation to England in 2016 opened a new chapter in my artist's life. From the moment I arrived in Norwich, I felt like at home. I was in my element: surrounded by beautiful natural landscapes, close to the sea and connected to friendly people. A perfect balance that I had been unconsciously looking for for decades. I could create again and was nourished by all these visible and invisible connections. Norwich being famous for print making, I developed my technical skills in etching, screen printing and print making. During this time, I travelled a lot in the UK and in the USA.

Living in a caring environment and being connected to inspiring places all over the world helped me to develop my own artistic proposition. Through my work, I started to explore the concept of connection : with Nature and trees in particular ; with specific places and cities ; with our cultural heritage ; with our political and social environment ; with ourselves and our interior light.

Today my home is in Lyon, in France. I enjoy working every day in my new studio, creating new series and preparing new projects and exhibitions. During the day, I feel connected to Nature when looking at my beautiful garden. Nights I feel connected to the universe when looking at the Moon and the sky from my terrace.