Olek was born Agata Oleksiak in Poland and graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland with a degree in Cultural Studies. In New York, she rediscovered her ability to crochet and since then she has started her crocheted journey/madness. Olek believes she chose crocheting as her artistic method to be able to do two things at once: to watch movies and make art.
“I think crochet, the way I create it, is a metaphor for the complexity and interconnectedness of our body and its systems and psychology. The connections are stronger as one fabric as opposed to separate strands, but, if you cut one, the whole thing will fall apart. It’s also a literal extension of the body, a sort of second skin that can be stretched and reshaped by the body inner workings as it shapes or distorts that body. I can’t really speak to what I want to reveal—to know that, you’d have to find the end of the string and unravel it.” (Agata Olek)