Bianka Rolando

(b. 1979) – a poet, prose writer, visual art and illustrator.

She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań (presently the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Fine Arts). In 2017, she became an Associate Professor of the visual arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź for her dissertation ‘Triumphzug odwrócony’ (Triumphzug Reversed). She lectures at Poznań’s University of Fine Arts and the University of Warsaw. She is tied to Warsaw’s LETO Gallery.

She made her debut with a short-story collection, ‘Rozmówki włoskie’ (Italian Phrase Books, 2007), inspired by the masterpieces of Italian painting; this book brought her the Young Art Medal in literature (2009). In 2009, she published an epic poem, ‘Biała książka’ (The White Book), for which she took the Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna Award for best poetry debut of the year, and distinctions at the Golden Mean of Poetry Polish Literary Competition. Her following volumes, ‘Modrzewiowe korony’ (Larch Crowns, 2010), ‘Podpłomyki’ (Flatbreads, 2012), ‘Łęgi’ (Riparian Forests, 2015), ‘Pascha’ (Easter, 2016), Stelle (2019), ‘Ostańce’ (Outliers, 2020), ‘Abrasz’ (Abrash, 2022) and ‘Absyda’ (Apse, 2024) solidified her position as one of the most original contemporary poets, consistently developing her own idiom, joining metaphysical reflection with a visual imagination.

In her writing, as in her visual art, there is a clear fascination for the relationship between body, space and gesture. Rolando uses a language rich in symbolic and sensual references, in which word and image intermingle. Her poetry is developing towards a poetic architecture – spatial compositions in which images and sounds work like parts of a whole. She characteristically crafts long phrases, strung between pathos and irony, between contemplation and movement. On a thematic level, she addresses issues of spirituality, physicality, love, sensory experience and transformation.

Her work also includes art theory, including ‘Mała książka o rysunku’ (A Small Book on Drawing, 2013), in which she analyses drawing as a spiritual and physical process, and reflects upon the creative gesture.

Rolando has had a scholarship from the Artist in Residence Dachstein Cult Foundation Dachstein:Cult (Austria), for which she made a drawing series, Austrian Ski Team, and exhibited it at Europe’s highest situated gallery. She has taken part in the PRORA All Inclusive residency programme in Germany. Her works have been shown in many galleries, such as Foksal Gallery in Warsaw (‘Czarna skrzynka’ [Black Box], 2010; ‘Rysunki, próby chrztu’ [Drawings, Rehearsals for a Baptism], 2013; ‘Kil i Delfin’ [Keel and Dolphin], 2019) and the Baltic Contemporary Art Gallery in Ustka (Rol-And-Drop Twin Jackpot, 2023).

Rolando’s work stands out with its consistent weave of literature and visual arts – she illustrates her own books, seeing them as holistic multimedia objects. As she states, ‘drawing and poetry are the same language to me – only the tools are different’.