Barbara Mydlak (b. 1987, Bilgoraj, Poland), PhD in Fine 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.

Mydlak’s artis­tic prac­ti­ce is stron­gly con­nec­ted to natu­re and regi­o­nal tra­di­ti­ons. She grew up sur­roun­ded with forests and rivers of south-eas­tern Poland, a regi­on whe­re many tra­di­ti­ons and local rites are still cul­ti­va­ted. This has influ­en­ced and inspi­red her work rela­ted to auto­bi­o­grap­hi­cal sto­ries, the methods of for­get­ting spe­ci­fic memo­ries and trau­mas, as well as ritu­als, most­ly asso­ci­a­ted to ill­ness, hea­ling, death and the pro­cess of decay. They are often inten­ded to pro­vo­ke dis­cus­si­on about loss and the influ­en­ce of cul­tu­ral con­text on the per­cep­ti­on of death. Mydlak’s instal­la­ti­ons have an ephe­me­ral ele­ment, they are made of peri­s­ha­ble and vul­ne­ra­ble to destruc­ti­on orga­nic mate­ri­als that can be trans­for­med and reused.

Developing a kind of ​‘sur­vi­val art’, she pla­ces gre­at emp­ha­sis on the abi­li­ty to pre­pa­re mate­ri­al from scratch, on her own, with the final art­work often inclu­ding an infor­ma­ti­on about the cre­a­ti­on and pro­ces­sing of the materials.