Marzena Kolarz: Searching For One Good Sentence

I am a mother. I am a photographer. I am a fashion designer and dressmaker. I am an artist. I am a teacher.

Because I am a mother, and my daughter is 6 years old, I mostly read books for children. In the last week we have read The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. I am currently studying for my Ph.D in the faculty of art, so as a result I must read a lot of texts about art, artists and the philosophy of art; for example the work of Susan Sontag – which is amazing.

I have so many answers for this question! I was child who read a lot. When I was 7 years old, I had read all of the books which we had at home. By 10 years old, I had read everything from the library on my street. If I had to pick which books were most important from my childhood, I would say it would be The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of Brothers Grimm by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm and Andersen’s Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen. Other books of my childhood would include Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren and Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. As a child, I would also read poetry.

It’s funny, but I wanted be a teacher of literature.

I think it would nice for me, because I feel good about this time in my life. Also I always had an open mind, always.

I don’t think that there is anything I would like to change. Sometimes in a long passage of boring text, there is one good sentence. I always searched for these sentences.

No, I read at every opportunity, any place I can. Sometimes on the bus, sometimes in the bath, sometimes before I fall asleep, sometimes when I wake up.

It might be La Chambre Claire: Note sur la Photographie by Roland Barthes, but I am not certain.

This depends on the specific person, but usually as I like a book, I recommend it to the world around me.

I like both. Sometimes fiction, sometimes non-fiction.

Extremely important! Reading creates imagination. You can learn new things. Understand so much. Take a rest. There is so much good in books!

I have read an amazing book about the polish biologist – Simona Kossak. She was born in Kracow. She was the daughter and granddaughter of painters Jerzy and Wojciech Kossak. The book is a biography of Simona Kossak, and is called A Story about the Amazing Life of Simona Kossak by Anna Kaminska. Simona was a very interesting person. She lived in the wilderness inside a small hut, with wild animals.

I love real books. They have a structure and a smell. But these days I most often read e-books. This is because I do not have anywhere to hold more books. The digital reader can fit your entire library. It is comfortable. Buying these books is also convenient. I got one immediately.

Any books about World War II. When I was in high school I read a lot of books about War. In our history as a country in Poland, World War II was a hard time. We have a lot of books from this time. The biggest impression on me was made by the book Make it Before the God – I think this book is only in polish. It is the interview conducted by Hanna Krall with Marek Edelman. They are talking about the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto and the Edelman work. This conversation is shocking. Full of beautiful and sad sentences. It shows a different hierarchies of values. I believe that knowledge of history, especially human errors – should be mandatory. Maybe then we would have been better to others.

If I must chose only one – then maybe it would be the Holy Bible. I have two reasons; firstly, it is a sacred text, showing the values and choices. Secondly it is a story I read with pleasure.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S.Lewis. I’m surprised I didn’t think to mention these books sooner!

I’m open to discovering new books. Certainly, I often reach for art books; but I don’t have a list. Maybe something will surprise me?

Maybe: Collage from Kolarz. This is word play with my surname, because in Polish it sounds just the same (collage and kolarz). And the word “collage” is very relevant to my life and my work.