Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Asha Hall

Jak Ryba w Wodzie (Like a Fish in Water)

This is an image of myself at around two years old being held by my Babcia (grandmother). The piece is titled, “Jak Ryba w Wodzie”, which means “Like a Fish in Water”. The image was taken on a digital camera, which creates rich and interesting shadows and tones in the image.

“As a young girl, I was lucky enough to have two loving grandmothers who took care of me when my parents were at work. I was also lucky enough to be raised in a bilingual household, as my Mother had only just moved from Poland when she was 20 years old. As a toddler I would speak Polish with my Mother as well as my Babcia. My Babcia was, and still is, a very busy woman; always cooking something or cleaning something or doing yard work to make herself feel useful. Whenever I would ask my Babcia how she was doing, she would say to me “Jak ryba w wodzie”. I would always say back to her “Well isn’t that a good thing? Fish are happy when they are in water!”, and she would laugh and smile back at me, continuing her work. ”