Creative Awakening
I grew up in the Czech Highlands and originally studied law in Prague. But it soon became clear that the world fascinated me far more than legal textbooks. While travelling in Guatemala, I met the artist Simon on top of a Mayan pyramid, and my creative adventure began.
Before long, I was painting, travelling off the beaten track and learning to trust a simple rule: do what you love, not what others expect.
From Office Life to Adventure
Drawn to different cultures, a career in international development felt like a natural fit. I began at the London office of Womankind Worldwide, where I was first introduced to feminism in practice.
Yet office life was never quite enough. I wanted to work directly with people and communities. Through the Guatemala Solidarity Network, I returned to Guatemala, where I lived alongside Maya communities that had survived genocide. Those experiences led to People of Maize, a travelling exhibition that was later shown across the Czech Republic.
Several unforgettable years in Africa followed. In Uganda, I started the first Uganda-Czech hospital and set up local schools under Archdiocesan Caritas Prague before moving to Kenya to manage environmental projects for the Slovak aid organisation People in Peril. Alongside my work I kept painting, creating the Karamojong and Buganda series.
Among Strong Women
During this time, Simon and I set off in search of cultures where women play a central role. We painted portraits, collected stories and immersed ourselves in their traditions. The result was Where Women Rule, our illustrated cultural travel book.
Since then, I’ve shared these stories through talks, touring exhibitions and magazine articles, and contributed to educational projects and books exploring women-led societies.
Current Projects
We continue our travels to Matricultures around the world, gradually developing an artistic anthology.
We are also increasingly focusing on eco-art. We work with both natural materials and rubbish collected along the shoreline, transforming them into objects, illustrations, narrative works, and animations.
At the moment, we are developing an ecological sci-fi graphic novel, Cela, inspired by our daughter and England’s Jurassic Coast, where we currently live, alongside a series of illustrated Beach Plastic Stories.
E-mail: karak6aj@hotmailcom