For Vanda Huminilowicz, entering the image, the image as an event, and the encounter with it become paramount. The artist’s first visual experience was the sight of the Black Madonna icon in Częstochowa, Poland, which she felt was speaking to her, addressing her, and inviting her to connect. Similar to the fundamental principle of Orthodox icon painting, where the icon is not merely an image or representation but a real manifestation of God, Huminilowicz’s paintings also offer a glimpse into transcendent, inner worlds that are, however, independent of any institutionalized religion or church.
Although the term “visionary” can certainly be applied to Vanda Huminilowicz’s paintings, an important part of the artist’s ars poetica is that these works are not projections of mental states, but rather arise from the process by which the artist has transcended certain ingrained patterns and transformed them into action. The work and the paintings thus invite us to explore our own inner world and immerse ourselves in it, where transcendence is individual and personal. The paintings are gateways, portals to these worlds, in which, at the same time, numerous familiar signs and symbols appear.