II. The High Priestess // Izabella Gustowska
feminine energy, intuition, inner voice, superconsciousness, focus on the inner self, self-development
The archetypal High Priestess is the keeper of the inner world, the great interpreter of symbols, the patroness of dreams and the unconscious, the initiator of inner journeys and meditations. She guards the secrets and will unveil them only to those who deserve them. She encourages us to stop, withdraw from the external world,to look at the inner landscapes - in them lies the much needed truth. It symbolizes the work necessary to develop a strong inner voice that remains steadfast in the face of the external expectations and judgments of others. This card points to the power of a woman's intuition. Negatively, it can be read as excessive introversion. The High Priestess is often portrayed with a hefty book on her lap, one which holds secrets and knowledge. This time she is depicted with a new attribute - a red lightning bolt - a symbol of the striking polish women. Izabella Gustowska, in her version of the card, projecting the Priestess through her self-portrait, layed the Priestess' arms around her abdomen and directed her gaze straight at the viewer. This gesture emphasizes the social change which accentuates women and their role in the development of the world - they no longer have to reach for wise books, because they wrote them and their bodies carry more wisdom than words.
Izabella Gustowska (b. 1948) is an intermedia artist and professor of visual arts. She takes up feminist themes and uses oneiric aesthetics. In 1972, she graduated from the University of Arts in Poznan and started to work as an assistant of Prof. Alfons Gielniak in the drawing studio. Currently, at the University of Arts in Poznan, she runs the Experimental Film Studio at the Animation and Intermedia Faculty and the Drawing Studio at Collegium Da Vinci. She works with printmaking, photography, installation, film, and video performance. The author often creates cycles of works, which she extends over time. One of the most popular cycles is the one entitled Relative Features of Similarity I, II (1979-1990). Between 1970 and 1980 she was a member of the "Od Nowa'' art group, active in Poznan. At the same time, from 1979 to 1994, together with Krystyna Piotrowska (until 1983), she ran the ON Gallery. They curated Art of Women (1980), as well as Presence I (1987), Presence III (1992), and Presence IV (1994), which were among the first feminist exhibitions in Poland. Gustowska represented Poland at the São Paulo Biennale (1983, 1987) and the XLIII International Biennale in Venice (1988), as well as at numerous group exhibitions in Poland and abroad. She was twice awarded a scholarship by the Fund for the Development of Visual Arts and was invited by the Foundation of Professor Emilio Vedova in Venice, the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, San Zanobi Foundation in Italy, Central Saint Martin's College of Art in London. She is the winner of numerous international competitions in drawing, painting, printmaking, and fabric as well as printmaking biennials and triennials (Bradford, Cracow, Ljubljana, Fredrikstad, New Delhi). Her most important exhibitions include Multiple Portrait at Akumulatory Gallery in Poznan (1985), Relative Features of Similarity at the National Museum in Wrocław (1986), Flowing at Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw (1996), Passions and Other Cases at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw (2001), Singing Rooms at the District Museum in Bydgoszcz (2001), Life is a Story at the National Museum in Poznan (2007), The Case of Edward H... The Case of Iza G... at Arsenał Gallery - Elektrownia in Białystok (2015), I Remember How... I Remember That at PGS in Sopot (2015), New York, and the Girl at Art Stations Foundations in Poznan (2015) or Absolute Features of Similarity at CK Zamek in Poznan (2020). She lives and works in Poznan.
The archetypal High Priestess is the keeper of the inner world, the great interpreter of symbols, the patroness of dreams and the unconscious, the initiator of inner journeys and meditations. She guards the secrets and will unveil them only to those who deserve them. She encourages us to stop, withdraw from the external world,to look at the inner landscapes - in them lies the much needed truth. It symbolizes the work necessary to develop a strong inner voice that remains steadfast in the face of the external expectations and judgments of others. This card points to the power of a woman's intuition. Negatively, it can be read as excessive introversion. The High Priestess is often portrayed with a hefty book on her lap, one which holds secrets and knowledge. This time she is depicted with a new attribute - a red lightning bolt - a symbol of the striking polish women. Izabella Gustowska, in her version of the card, projecting the Priestess through her self-portrait, layed the Priestess' arms around her abdomen and directed her gaze straight at the viewer. This gesture emphasizes the social change which accentuates women and their role in the development of the world - they no longer have to reach for wise books, because they wrote them and their bodies carry more wisdom than words.
Izabella Gustowska (b. 1948) is an intermedia artist and professor of visual arts. She takes up feminist themes and uses oneiric aesthetics. In 1972, she graduated from the University of Arts in Poznan and started to work as an assistant of Prof. Alfons Gielniak in the drawing studio. Currently, at the University of Arts in Poznan, she runs the Experimental Film Studio at the Animation and Intermedia Faculty and the Drawing Studio at Collegium Da Vinci. She works with printmaking, photography, installation, film, and video performance. The author often creates cycles of works, which she extends over time. One of the most popular cycles is the one entitled Relative Features of Similarity I, II (1979-1990). Between 1970 and 1980 she was a member of the "Od Nowa'' art group, active in Poznan. At the same time, from 1979 to 1994, together with Krystyna Piotrowska (until 1983), she ran the ON Gallery. They curated Art of Women (1980), as well as Presence I (1987), Presence III (1992), and Presence IV (1994), which were among the first feminist exhibitions in Poland. Gustowska represented Poland at the São Paulo Biennale (1983, 1987) and the XLIII International Biennale in Venice (1988), as well as at numerous group exhibitions in Poland and abroad. She was twice awarded a scholarship by the Fund for the Development of Visual Arts and was invited by the Foundation of Professor Emilio Vedova in Venice, the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, San Zanobi Foundation in Italy, Central Saint Martin's College of Art in London. She is the winner of numerous international competitions in drawing, painting, printmaking, and fabric as well as printmaking biennials and triennials (Bradford, Cracow, Ljubljana, Fredrikstad, New Delhi). Her most important exhibitions include Multiple Portrait at Akumulatory Gallery in Poznan (1985), Relative Features of Similarity at the National Museum in Wrocław (1986), Flowing at Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw (1996), Passions and Other Cases at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw (2001), Singing Rooms at the District Museum in Bydgoszcz (2001), Life is a Story at the National Museum in Poznan (2007), The Case of Edward H... The Case of Iza G... at Arsenał Gallery - Elektrownia in Białystok (2015), I Remember How... I Remember That at PGS in Sopot (2015), New York, and the Girl at Art Stations Foundations in Poznan (2015) or Absolute Features of Similarity at CK Zamek in Poznan (2020). She lives and works in Poznan.