Ida Karkoszka (b. 1985) is a Polish artist who grew up in an artistic environment, but her early interests revolved around the natural sciences. She saw herself not so much in the arts as in veterinary medicine or surgery, professions that make a real difference in saving lives. Although she eventually graduated from the Department of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in the studio of Professor Antoni Janusz Pastwa, her early intuitions defined her later artistic choices influenced by the corporeal – vital subject matter of her works – and determined her perception of the artist’s place and tasks in the world as a public speaker, fighting injustice and striving through art to change destructive attitudes and practices.

Ida Karkoszka draws on the tradition of European representational art. Ida Karkoszka’s sculptures evoke the silhouettes of animals used by the artist to combat mass phenomena at the intersection of power and systemic violence that primarily affect innocent victims. The artist is seen as an animal advocate and ally, as most of her works were included in the fight against bestiality justified by cultural norms. Ida Karkoszka’s works have been shown at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and the Center for Polish Sculpture in Orońsko, among others. The artist has participated in group exhibitions at Studio Cannaregio in Venice and the Mark Rothko Centre in Daugavpils. Her works are in the collection of the British Museum and private collections.