A Letter From the Zelek Family

We would like to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your support of Paulina during her illness. It was a very dark time and how many of you got involved and wanted to help exceeded her expectations. 

Paulina didn't realize that she was so loved by everyone and that so many people were with her during her illness. She was a beautiful, wonderful and humble person who by her very presence made everyone happy. It was a pleasure to be in her company as she didn't put pressure on anyone, she didn't criticize, and she truly was too pure for this world.

Such a wonderful person can not disappear from our lives. Just because her body died does not mean that her positive energy disappeared. In memory of Paulina and to carry out her plans to create a place for young artists where they could create together, exchange ideas, build new beautiful projects and just spend time with each other, the POLLY ZEE Art Foundation was created.

The Foundation will operate as a financial support institution through scholarship opportunities for young artists to support the beginning of their artistic careers. We want to create a community for artists who will support each other by providing feedback, advice, and great ideas to help build confidence in themselves and their art. 

We want the scholarship winners to become members of the foundation, like at the Oscars, so that they can become active members in the community we are looking to build. This would include participating in local events, coming up with ideas on how we can connect with others and grow the community, and become a proud representative of this foundation.

Over the course of the last 5 years Paulina had spent studying at the Department of Graphic Arts at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts where she graduated with honors with her Master's degree. In this time, she had managed to entrench herself in the Krakow art scene and make some incredible friends and her experiences there meant the world to her. We are honored that we will be able to announce the open enrollment of our scholarship program in November during the festival patronage of the Academy of Fine Arts.

We also want to get involved in helping people with terminal illnesses find their purpose in life.We want to become an outlet for those who feel like life no longer makes sense after hearing the diagnosis; a conclusion drawn by their brains based on the painful reality of their illness. We want to ensure that their minds reach the beauty of art from which the subconscious builds a picture of reality in which you live as it affects how you feel, how you look and how much motivation and desire to live.  

After Paulina’s cancer diagnosis at the age of 21, she did not give up because of the disease and it did not become her subject of life; she decided that she wanted to study art. She found herself in a completely different reality: the world of art gave her invaluable comfort in life. Often pharmacological medicine is not what cures you, but where your thoughts lead you and how you conceive reality. A month before Paulina passed, despite her already poor health, it was important to go to the art museum where she found peace and comfort. Because of this experience and comfort that this brought her, we would love to create a space for others to heal through visual art and music.

We also want to thank Paulina's colleagues Greta, Morta, Daniella, Martyna, Karolina, Anastasia, as well as her professors dv hab. Marcin Surzycki, Prodziekan dr Natalia Wiernik, and others from the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, all of these people were very actively involved in the establishment of the POLLY ZEE Art Foundation. If it were not for these people and their ideas, we ourselves would certainly not have found so much strength to bring Polly’s dreams and vision to life.

Once again, a very sincere thank you and we would like to invite everyone to whom Paulina was close with and liked the idea to work with to become a part of this family, not only as donors but as active co-creators.

Sincerely

Paulina's parents and siblings