Karolina Victor explores motherhood after stroke in Warsaw

Karolina Wiktor creates a new language born from absence

Karolina Wiktor’s Cartography of Motherhood at Zachęta – National Gallery of Art in Warsaw combines drawing, gesture and sound to trace the artist’s experience of post-stroke aphasia through the lens of motherhood. After a ruptured aneurysm and strokes in 2009, Wiktor rebuilt her practice around visual and concrete poetry, developing Czcionka Braku (Font of Absence), a typographical system born of incomplete, illegible letters recorded during acute aphasia.

“Stroke and aphasia are very complex conditions and aphasia is one of the most difficult disabilities overall. Rehabilitation must be holistic,” the artist says designboomaffecting not only speech but also writing, reading, counting, concentration, attention and spatial awareness. In his heart report lies the close bond between Wiktor and her daughter Iga: domestic rituals, gestures, designs and rhythms that became, at once, acts of communication and restoration. The performance marks the first time in Wiktor’s practice that motherhood is treated as a direct subject and as a survival method. The central argument of the exhibition is that agency, authorship and voice are not lost with language but transformed.

Karolina Wiktor exhibition. Cartography of Motherhood, Zachęta – National Art Gallery, 20.02-03.05.2026 | all images by Daniel Rumiancew / Zachęta file, CC BY-SA

the body as ground in the Zachęta National Gallery

Curated by Katarzyna Kołodziej-Podsiadło with exhibition architecture by Maciej Sierpień of Kibera Studio, the spatial design gives form to the exhibition’s central metaphor. The body presents itself as an area to navigate after a neurological crisis.“The hands are one of the key areas, as they are directly connected to the brain and cognitive functions. Post-stroke aphasia is not only the inability to speak, but also difficulties with writing, reading, counting, as well as problems with concentration, attention and understanding of space.’ the Polish artist shares with us. “Drawing and writing are among the methods used in neurological speech therapy,” This is how her book Wołgą przez Afazję (Volga through aphasia) was created. Wiktor recorded herself reading it aloud, as reading to her daughter was a form of therapy in itself.

The exhibition also includes two games that support rehabilitation beyond speech, addressing the wider range of post-stroke disabilities. The sound appears in the film, where the artist walks through Warsaw and, as she says, “it explains how we can sustain ourselves,” noting that “the best and most proven form of rehabilitation is simply walking.”

in the middle: Karolina Wiktor: Table with Font of Abscence

a map that no man can complete alone

Cartography of Motherhood extends beyond the gallery through the project NeuroUżyteczna (NeuroUseful), a platform that Wiktor has developed over fifteen years to support social participation between people with different neurological abilities. Workshops, actions and meetings are an integral part of Cartography of Motherhood and Wiktor is clear about what makes this collective format important. “The first and perhaps most important aspect is social rehabilitation. which she herself describes as a social project. In practice, this means that someone in recovery only works alongside someone months after the stroke. “In this way, we help each other, because I know how valuable closeness, emotions and the possibility of participation are — for everyone: healthy or sick, artist or audience.” she explains. Children’s drawings act as directions on a map that no one person can complete alone. Cartography of Motherhood, developed in collaboration with the Center of Inclusive Art / Theater 21, will run at Zachęta until May 3, 2026.

in the middle: Karolina Wiktor: Table with Font of Abscence