Natalia Podejko, born in 1992 in Gdańsk, Poland, is a multidisciplinary artist — working primarily with painting, drawing, collage, animation, and embroidery — as well as an architect currently living and working in Switzerland.

She studied architecture at the Gdańsk University of Technology, VIA University College, the Royal Danish Academy (KADK), and the University of Liechtenstein, where she completed her diploma under Professor Peter Staub. Her project "common place" was recognised as the top project at her university and was exhibited at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Notably, she was a finalist in the 2020 Young Talent Architecture Award, organised by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe. In 2018, she completed her master’s degree at the Gdańsk University of Technology.

Throughout her studies and professional career in architecture, Podejko used art as a tool to develop and communicate her ideas. Her radical approach to sustainable architecture embraces a limited material palette and fundamentally questions the necessity of new construction.

Since 2022, she has been self-renovating part of a 300-year-old house in Wallis grounded in a philosophy of finding and respecting existence. This hands-on approach, using natural materials, has enabled her to take responsibility for every stage of the process — from the selection and sourcing of materials to their environmental impact — while also challenging conventional building practices.

Half of the perception of a work of art lies in the work itself and half in the viewer - in his/her/their identity, experiences, knowledge of culture, but also in his/her/its physical and mental state at the moment of observer.

Today we live in times when each artist has his/her/their own individual style. Each time we have to get to know the code to decipher the art to interpret art. It might be a tiring and difficult process, discouraging many recipients.
The artist devotes his/her/their time, thoughts and feelings to filling the canvas. They give this fragment of his life to a stranger. And thanks to this, we have someone else's life for us. The most beautiful thing about being human is meeting another person in their perspective of what we have already seen for a long time. Because of it the short stories might help viewer to understand my intentions behind those paints.

While painting, considerations arise regarding purely visual aspect of the work. Does it attract attention from distance? The initial impression draws the viewer and this deeper exploration ensures that the artwork does not disappoint. Finally, the most value aspect of work of art is a surplus- "something extra”.

The work should be about something else than what we see. Eternal topics hovering as inspiration above work of arts enrich individual perception. Stories of unemployment, love, trust, ambition, climate change, alcoholism can be embedded in specific context broadening universal interpretation of work of art they accompany. I think that embedding the topic in a specific context and at the same time telling a story with a universal character makes the work timeless and universal.

Besides all that I wrote above, the most important aspect of my work is its potential to offer a sense of respite — something you can immerse yourself in and come away renewed. Regardless of whether the work is fully understood, it invites an open-ended engagement that allows for pure joy.

28.08 - 21.09.2025 — "Landschafcik", Arty Show Biel/Bienne, L’art en vitrine / Kunst im Schaufenster 

22.05 - 21.11.2021 — "common place", 17th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia