Magdalena Szata’s recent work is rooted in return rather than reinvention for the sake of novelty. Instead of beginning from scratch, she has been revisiting her earlier linocut prints and transforming them into hand-cut collages, allowing existing works to evolve into something new.
“I’ve been revisiting my old linocut prints and turning them into collages, letting them evolve into something new rather than starting from scratch.”
Working this way has become a deeply intuitive and playful process. For Magdalena, it feels like entering into a new conversation with her past work rather than closing a chapter. The shift reflects a belief that growth often comes not from beginning again at zero, but from changing perspective.
“Sometimes all we need is to look at what we already have… and see it in a new light.”
Returning to earlier prints is an intimate act. The artist approaches the work not as the person she once was, but as someone who has learned, changed, softened, and sharpened through time. Cutting into finished prints and reassembling them creates space for reflection, allowing familiar shapes and figures to speak differently.
“When I began cutting, assembling, reorganising my older prints, I felt like I was having a new conversation with familiar faces and shapes.”
Her recurring “Ladies,” originally born from carved dots and strong contrasts, take on new voices when placed into fresh arrangements. The process is not rigid or technical. It flows through intuition and a slower, more attentive rhythm that invites play and openness.
“The was not a stiff or technical process. Instead, it flowed with intuition.”
There is a lightness to the work, both physically and emotionally. The small scale of the collages allows them to be held, turned, and explored. Yet within that lightness, each piece still invites a pause and a quiet moment of contemplation.
In transforming earlier editions into one-of-a-kind collages, Magdalena found a renewed energy emerging from the work itself. The pieces recognise their roots while gently insisting on becoming something new.
“It reminded me that reinvention doesn’t always require starting from scratch.”
A quote that accompanied her through this period felt closely aligned with the process and its meaning. “Don’t be afraid of starting again. This time you start from experience, not from zero.”
Each collage carries the memory of when the original print was made, now layered with everything learned since. They are not beginnings from nothing, but beginnings from depth. Through collage, Magdalena reflects on art as a cyclical and layered practice, one that allows us to return to the past not to repeat it, but to renew it.
“When I return to my own work, I’m not repeating the past, I’m continuing the conversation.”
Magdalena Szata is a Warsaw-based printmaker working from her home studio. She specialises in graphic arts, focusing primarily on linocut and pen and ink drawing. Her work explores lines, dots, tonal transitions, and texture to build contrast, depth, and quiet emotional presence.
Want to know more about our membership? Give us an email at members@peopleofprint.com.
- Riso-printed Calendar 2026 by Hannah Kansy - January 11, 2026
- Reborn in Layers: The Quiet Power of Collage - January 11, 2026
- 2027: A Year in Review by Tommy Evans - December 23, 2025
