Anna Shimomura (born in 1992 in Otaru, Japan) is a Polish-Japanese visual artist and researcher. She holds a PhD in comparative literature from Osaka University (2026). She graduated from the Mirosław Bałka Studio of Spatial Activities (2019) and the Krzysztof Wodiczko Studio of Public Art (2017) at the Media Art Faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, as well as from English Studies at the University of Warsaw (2019). She is also a member of the Warsaw-based feminist art group Kolektyw Łaski.
In both her academic research and artistic practice, she explores the physical and imaginary spaces of cultural crossings, including borderlands, the “East-West” dichotomy, nationalism, and decolonial spirituality—particularly in the contexts of Japan and East-Central Europe.
Solo and duo exhibitions:
This is what wellness sounds like (as Kolektyw Łaski, duo with Peter Fritzenwallner) Periscope Gallery, Salzburg (Austria), 2024
Infiltration, ERGO Hestia Pavilion of Art, Warsaw, 2019
Selected group exhibitions and projects:
KCUA Annual Exhibition, Kyoto City University of Arts (Japan), 2022
Ryugakusei-ten, Kyoto City University of Arts (Japan), 2021
ZAZ Festival Tel Aviv / Arad (Israel), 2019
Warsaw Under Construction Festival: Monumentomania, Museum of Modern Art / Pawilon ZODIAK, Warsaw (Poland), 2019
Open Antifascist Studio OSA, (Poland), 2019
“Czym się zajmujesz?” vol. 3, Galeria Salon Akademii, Warsaw (Poland), 2019
The Esteemed Graduates of the Academies of Fine Arts, Zbrojownia Sztuki, Gdansk (Poland), 2019
Serce gryzie nostalgia, CH Panorama, Warsaw (Poland), 2019
Hestia’s Artistic Journey, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (Poland), 2019
Hexen Tabor Gore, City Art Centre, Gorzów Wielkopolski (Poland), 2019
“The Capital” 16th Survival Art Festival, Wroclaw (Poland), 2018
Action Lublin! Chapter 2., Galeria Labirynt, Lublin (Poland), 2018
The Third Polish Congress of Aesthetics, Academy of Arts in Szczecin (Poland), 2017
Grassomania, City Gdansk Gallery (Poland), 2017
Breathtaking. InSpirations 12, Art Trafostation, Szczecin (Poland), 2017
Otwock. Season 6: S1_92537, Studio Otwock, (Poland), 2016
Video Cube, as part of 4 Elements Festival, Banská Štiavnica (Slovakia), 2016
Wola Warm+Up, Wola Museum, Warsaw (Poland), 2015
Selected group exhibitions and projects with Kolektyw Łaski:
Welcome to Earth, Instytut B61, European Space Agency, Center for the Meeting of Cultures, Lublin (Poland), 2023
Cope, not perish, MAERZ Gallery, Linz (Austria) 2023
"Re-Interpretations" Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival (Japan), 2023
N:ear / experimental and improvised music festival, Banská Štiavnica (Slovakia), 2022
Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival (Japan), 2022
Greener and greener! Projects by Alina Scholtz (side event), The Wola Museum of Warsaw (Poland), 2021
Lost in Translation, @KCUA Gallery, Kyoto (Japan), 2021
Second Climate Plateau of Contemporary Art, Galeria Propaganda, Warsaw (Poland), 2021
History Will Pervert You All!, FestivALT, Krakow (Poland), 2021
Las Rzeczy, Galeria Foksal, Warsaw (Poland), 2021
Koyaanisqatsi Project, Teatr Studio, Warsaw, Poland, 2021
Solidarność in Progress, Miejski Ośrodek Sztuki, Gorzów Wielkopolsk (Poland), 2021
Milk Me Sugar, Galeria Arsenał, Bialystok (Poland), 2020
The Lucky Jewathon, FestivALT, Krakow (Poland), 2020
Regeneracja po zranieniu, Miejska Galeria Sztuki, Częstochowa (Poland), 2020
The 9th Young Triennale, The Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko (Poland), 2020
#karaokeforclimate (on-line residency), Department of Presence, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (Poland), 2020
The Future of Culture Forum Teatr Powszechny, Warsaw (Poland), 2019
Open Antifascist Studio OSA (Poland), 2019
Poprawka [Retake], Galeria JEST, Wroclaw (Poland), 2019
“Czym się zajmujesz?” vol. 3, Galeria Salon Akademii, Warsaw (Poland), 2019
Poprawka [Retake], Relax Art Space, Czestochowa (Poland), 2019
Generator MALTA performance at MALTA FESTIVAL, Poznan (Poland), 2019
New Patriotic Excercises workshops, Biuro Wystaw, Warsaw (Poland), 2019
W Polsce Nie Ma Faszyzmu (There Is No Fascism in Poland) workshops, Teatr Powszechny, Warsaw (Poland), 2019
100 FLAGS, Biuro Wystaw, Warsaw (Poland), 2018
Młode Wilki Art Trafostation, Szczecin (Poland), 2018
Another Patriotic Exhibition, Otwarta Pracownia MEWKA, Gdansk (Poland), 2018
Female Utopias in Action: 100 Years of Female Voting Rights conference, Jagiellonian University, Krakow (Poland), 2018
Macierz/Matrix, as part of Cracow Gallery Weekend KRAKERS, Jagiellonian University, Krakow (Poland), 2018
Decydentki, The Nuremberg House, Krakow (Poland), 2018
Publications:
-「シェンキェヴィチの『炎と剣』における「クレスィ」の植民地的想像力」, 待兼山論叢59号, 2026
-" 'Mixed Blood' and 'Pure Heart': Hybridity in Almayer’s Folly and Nihonjin Oin" Border Crossings: The Journal of Japanese-Language Literature Studies, Vol. 21, December 2025 (link)
-「日本のコロニアル・アンビバレンス ― ジョセフ · コンラッドと大佛次郎の政治的両義性―」, INTERNATIONAL JAPANESE STUDIES / 国際日本学, Hosei University Press, 2024 (link)
-"'Kresy' as the Heart of Darkness: Reading Polish and Belgian Colonialisms" New Perspectives, Volume 30 Issue 4, December 2022
-“There Was No Joy in the Brilliance of Sunshine” Vono Paper (on-line magazine), 2020
Awards:
2021 Allegro Prize Shortlist (as Kolektyw Łaski)
2020 MEXT scholarship at Kyoto City University of Arts
2019 Dean's award for the best MA graduation work
2019 Hestia's Artistic Journey Finalist
2018 Młode Wilki, award of distinction (together with Kolektyw Łaski)
2017 Dean's award for the best BA graduation work
Education:
2022 - 2026 PhD at Osaka University Graduate School of Humanities (MEXT scholarship)
2020 - 2022 Research student at Kyoto City University of Arts (MEXT scholarship)
2017 - 2019 MA (Hons) Warsaw Academy of Fina Arts, Media Art
2016 - 2019 MA Warsaw University, English Studies
2014 - 2017 BA (Hons) Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, Media Art
2013 Erasmus scholarship at Manchester Metropolitan University
2011 - 2014 BA Warsaw University, English Studies