Paweł Ponichtera

@ponichtera.pawel | www.pawel ponichtera.com art | illustration | murals | folk

[nihti]

Ink drawing on paper, 2026

42 / 29,7 cm

Details on my IG : @ponichtera.pawel

[nihti]

Ink drawing on paper, 2026

42 / 29,7 cm

Details on my IG : @ponichtera.pawel

[nihti]

Ink drawing on paper, 2026

42 / 29,7 cm

Details on my IG : @ponichtera.pawel

[nihti]

Ink drawing on paper, 2026

42 / 29,7 cm

Details on my IG : @ponichtera.pawel

[nihti]

🎩💘💪 Happy to share this poster based on one of the sketches I made for a commission about promoting book reading for Tajne Komplety bookstore in Wrocław, Poland.

"Duma i Uprzedzenie" - "Pride and Prejudice"

Ink on paper, digital color, 2025

On my instagram, along with the final poster also sharing the original sketch and a photo from the ink drawing process. Check it out.

[nihti]

🔥 𝕴𝖌𝖓𝖎𝖘 𝕾𝖚𝖕𝖕𝖑𝖎𝖈𝖎𝖚𝖒 🔥

The stake was both punishment and spectacle. It allowed the community to witness the annihilation of a woman who had become the focus of social tensions. A woman burning at the stake embodied not only the fear of witchcraft but also fantasies about sexuality and domination over body and mind. Fire and immobilization symbolized the oppression imposed by social norms, the dread of independent womanhood and the desire to control what was taboo.

In Lower Silesia, in the town of Kolsk, witch trials took place in which women were accused of sorcery and condemned to death by burning. The best-known victim of the persecutions of 1664 is Anna Villborn, an herbalist from the village of Jesiona, who was burned in the Municipal Grove at Lewin. Her trial was part of a wave of accusations across the region that is estimated to have claimed thirty-nine lives.

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Gouache, watercolor, crayon + digital editing, 2025

[nihti]

🕱🧀 𝕮𝖆𝖘𝖊𝖚𝖘 𝖁𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖓𝖆𝖙𝖚𝖘 🧀🕱

Year 1622. Barbara Schmied was the first woman to be burned at the stake in the Duchy of Nysa. Accused of witchcraft by her dying husband and subjected to torture, she confessed during her trial to casting spells on cows and to poisoning her husband with old cheese.

Cheese, as a form of preserved food, represented one of the key symbols of domestic prosperity and the secure stability of the household. A witch allegedly tainting the cheese not only inflicted physical harm upon her husband, but also undermined the very foundations of communal life and family existence.

Such accusations were attempts to make sense of sudden illnesses or the deaths of animals and people in a world full of uncertainty, a world that lacked knowledge of natural causes.

[nihti]

🔥 𝖋𝖚𝖗𝖓𝖚𝖘 𝖘𝖆𝖌𝖆 🔥

Most noble, esteemed and industrious Masters of the Stove-makers’ Guild,

Much concerned for public order and the efficiency of our processes of execution, I hereby address this letter to you. The burden upon our courts has reached its utmost limits; the queues of the condemned have grown beyond measure and the storage space within the Wrocław Tower no longer suffices.

I therefore commission the construction of a second furnace installation of specifications equal to the one already in operation. I desire that this structure be solid, swiftly erected, and compliant with all standards of safety.

I trust that, with your craft’s diligence and precision, you shall produce a furnace eight feet high or taller, capable of accommodating twenty or more entries from the list of the condemned—thus increasing operational throughput and maximizing the return on investment for the Parish Community and the Holy Church.

It shall be my satisfaction to see this initiative advance with speed, optimizing both the time and wood devoted to the righteous administration of justice upon the servants of darkness, who seek to lead the god-fearing astray into damnation.

With expressions of respect, and in the dutiful service of public order, Johann Balthasar Liesch von Hornau Auxiliary Bishop of Wrocław

Historical Note: In 17th-century Nysa (then Neisse), a real execution furnace was built and used for the burning of those accused of witchcraft. The so-called witches’ furnace became infamous throughout Silesia as a symbol of the systematic persecution of alleged sorcerers, an apparatus of both faith and fear, constructed and maintained by local craftsmen under ecclesiastical authority.  Most victims were burned alive within its walls. Only some were granted what was considered an act of mercy: death by strangulation at the hands of the executioner before being put to the flames.

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Watercolor, ink and brush on paper + digital editing, 2025

[nihti]

⚝𖠊 Metamorphosis 𖠊⚝

In old folk beliefs witchcraft accusations often centered on milk, which was seen as a symbol of nourishment, prosperity and life. A witch transformed into a mouse or a rat not only stole food but also undermined the very foundations of a household’s and societal existence. Such allegations served to explain losses and poor harvests in a world where material stability was hard to secure. The spreading tide of fear toward older women, identified with the devil and inexplicable harmful deeds, made it easier to shift responsibility onto the outsider, the alleged servant of evil. Thus, the mouse or rat became a symbol of a hidden, predatory and dark side of the psyche, whose purpose was to steal lifegiving essence and to spread diabolical harm.

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W wierzeniach ludowych oskarżenia o czary często koncentrowały się na mleku, które stanowiło symbol pożywienia, dobrobytu i życia. Czarownica przemieniona w mysz lub szczura nie tylko okradała z pożywienia, lecz podważała fundamenty egzystencji całego gospodarstwa. Takie oskarżenia były sposobem na wytłumaczenie strat i nieurodzaju w świecie, w którym niełatwo o materialną stabilność. Nurt szerzącego się lęku przed starymi kobietami, utożsamianymi z diabłem i szkodliwymi działaniami o niewytłumaczalnej naturze, ułatwiał przerzucić odpowiedzialność na odmieńca, sługę zła. Mysz lub szczur stawały się symbolem ukrytej, drapieżnej i mrocznej strony psychiki, której celem była kradzież życiodajnej esencji i umożliwienie czynienia diabelskich szkód.

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Bingo Malefica

What could a woman be accused of to be labeled as witch? Almost anything. Every peculiarity, odd habit or simple coincidence could become reason for accusation. Suspicion could arise from completely opposite traits, like having many children or none at all, whispering or shouting. Any deviation from the norm was enough for the community to find guilt wherever it wished to see it. Beneath it all lay unspoken tensions and social fears: the young woman was viewed as an object of desire, while the aging one became something enigmatic and threatening. The old woman, stripped of the sexual attraction associated with youth, provoked unease and fantasies of sexual danger. Witch trials thus often served as a way to eliminate whatever exceeded or defied the accepted idea of femininity.

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Za co można było oskarżyć kobietę o czary? W zasadzie o wszystko. Każda odmienność, dziwactwo czy zwykły przypadek stawały się pretekstem do zarzutów. Podejrzenia budziły zarówno cechy przeciwstawne np. posiadanie wielu dzieci albo ich brak, szeptanie lub krzyczenie. Wystarczyło odstępstwo od normy, by społeczność znalazła winę tam, gdzie chciała ją zobaczyć. W tle kryły się niewypowiadane napięcia i lęki społeczne: młoda kobieta była postrzegana jako obiekt pożądania, a starzejąca się jako coś niepojętego i groźnego. Stara kobieta, pozbawiona przymiotów pożądania seksualnego charakterystycznych dla młodości, budziła niepokój i fantazje o seksualnym zagrożeniu. Procesy czarownic bywały więc sposobem na pozbycie się tego, co wykracza poza wyobrażenie o przyjętych normach kobiecości.

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☽◯☾ During my studies of archives and legends, I have found the perfect recipe for a witch’s ointment.

🦇🌘 Ointment of Nocturnal Flights 🌘🦇

Behold the recipe of foulness and abomination, offered in honor of the night. Take thou the root and leaf of black henbane, called Hyoscyamus niger, and grind them well in a mortar till their sap be runneth free. Sprinkle with the seed of poppy, Papaver somniferum, to cast the senses into slumber. Add the seeds of a deadly thorn-apple, which they name Datura stramonium, that the mind be plunged into the darkness and strange phantasms manifold to appear.

Let a single drop of living blood fall from the wing of a downy bat, for the nocturnal power. Gather wolfsbane, which men call Aconitum napellus, but do so gloved and mix it with spotted hemlock, known as Conium maculatum, that the heart may quake with dread and the body grown stiff and cold as death.

Seal your ears with beeswax not to be gravely disturbed by the mandrake which by a black hound must be torn from the ground. Grate it fine as horseradish and join it to the ointment, that the thoughts may take flight free. Add also swan’s grass or silverweed, called Potentilla anserina, for it brings women relief in their hidden pains.

Grind all together with the fat of a sacrilegious man until it grows black and slick. Rub the secret parts of the body, where the flesh most readily drinks in the potion. Whoever prepares and uses it shall behold devils, revels and frenzy dances. You shall fly by night and commit deeds of abomination under the moon.

Ink & brush on paper + digital edition

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🦇🌘 Maść nocnych lotów🌘🦇

Oto recepta plugastwa ku czci nocy. Weźmij korzeń i liść lulka czarnego, hyoscyamus niger zwany, dobrze utłuczcie w moździerzu, aż soki swoje upuści. Makiem, to jest Papaver somniferum, posyp dla uśpienia zmysłów, bielunia nasienie, którego zwą Datura stramonium, dodaj, aby umysł w mroki pogrążyć i widzenia dziwne mnogie przywiódł.

Kroplę żywej krwie ze skrzydła puchatego gacka spuść, dla nocnej mocy. Tojad, zowią Aconitum napellus, w rękawiczkach zrywać masz i ze szczwółem plamistym, Conium maculatum zwanym, dodaj, by serce lękiem napełniło się i ciało w zdrętwieniu umartwiło.

Wosk pszczeli w uszy dla zatkania wsadzić trzeba, a mandragorę, psem czarnem z ziemie wykopaną, jako chrzan utrzeć i do maści przyłączyć, by myśli lotne były. Łabędzia trawa, srebrnik czyli Potentilla anserina, też dołóż, albowiem niewiastom Tamże ulgę przynosi.

Wszystko z łojem świętokradcy ucieraj, aż czarne i tłuste się stanie. Smaruj miejsca sekretne, gdzie ciało snadnie soki w siębie pije. A kto tak czyni, ten diabły, libacje i tańce widzi, fruwa po nocy i plugastwa czynił będzie.

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🪵I am working on my project to guide you through the process of the witch trials from their very messy beginning to their tragic end. I llustrate it through the stories of local witches from Lower Silesia in Poland.

🟫 Punitio de Crimine Magiae 🟫 The pillory was not only an instrument of immobilization, humiliation, punishment and not merely a frequent prelude to execution. Also, it transformed the restrained woman into an object onto which the community projected its collective fears and aggressions. The punishment delivered the victim to the mercy of the crowd and reinforced the conviction of her guilt, not only in the public eye, but within herself as well. Thus, the pillory became both a form of punishment and a social spectacle as a warning that solidified fear and prejudice.The victim was exposed to ridicule and violence from passersby, which could serve as a kind of temporary social catharsis of a collective purging of tension and anxiety. On a symbolic level, the pillory functioned as a tool of control over female sexuality and social roles, particularly in relation to older women who no longer conformed to patriarchal ideals of femininity.

Ink & brush on paper + digital edition

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Dyby nie tylko były narzędziem unieruchomienia, upokorzenia, kary i częstym etapem przed egzekucją, ale również przemieniały unieruchomioną kobietę w obiekt projekcji społecznych lęków i agresji. Kara oddawała ofiarę na pastwę tłumu i wzmacniała przekonanie o winie unieruchomionej kobiety, również w niej samej. To czyniło z dyb karę i spektakl społeczny, będący ostrzeżeniem i cementujący lęki oraz uprzedzenia. Ofiara była narażona na kpiny i przemoc przechodniów, co mogło stanowić tymczasowe społeczne katharsis, czyli zbiorowe oczyszczenie się z napięć i poczucia zagrożenia. W symbolicznym wymiarze dyby służyły jako forma kontroli nad kobiecą seksualnością i rolami społecznymi, szczególnie wobec starszych kobiet, które nie mieściły się w patriarchalnym wzorcu kobiecości.

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🔴Contemporary female sexuality 🔴

In the contemporary Western world female sexuality exists in a paradox. On one hand it is commercially exploited and has been liberated in the language of pop culture. On the other hand, it remains stigmatized and controlled.

Ink & brush on paper + digital edition

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We współczesnym świecie kultury zachodniej kobieca seksualność tkwi w paradoksie. Z jednej strony jest komercyjnie eksploatowana, w języku popkultury została wyzwolona, a z drugiej strony nadal stygmatyzowana i kontrolowana.

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𖣂𖠋 Hexeneiche 𖠋𖣂 Witchtree 𖠋𖣂

I’ve been exploring old beliefs and witch trials in Lower Silesia for some time now. I draw inspiration from mechanisms of social control, fear, and the echoes of past narratives that still resonate today. Archival sources and local legends became the starting point for this series of illustrations.

🪵 It was once believed that witches could literally milk trees. People searched tree trunks for traces of devilish activity, which we now simply recognize as a foamy fungus once called "witches butter”. Behind every superstition about witchcraft, there was always more than mere belief. In a world where knowledge and empathy gave way to fear and intrigue, absurd accusations transformed into self-sustaining narratives, shaping unknown reality through fear.

The exhibition featuring part of my project is currently on view at Klubokawiarnia Recepcja in Wroclaw until November 23.

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Od pewnego czasu przyglądam się dawnym wierzeniom i procesom o czary na Dolnym Śląsku. Czerpię inspiracje z mechanizmów kontroli społecznych, lęku i echa dawnych narracji odbijających się we współczesności. Archiwalne źródła i lokalne podania stały się punktem wyjścia do tego cyklu ilustracji.

🪵 Niegdyś wierzono, że wiedźmy potrafią doić drzewa. Dosłownie. Na pniach szukano śladów „diabelskich działań”, które dziś znamy po prostu jako wykwit piankowaty, dawniej zwany „masłem czarownic”. Za każdym zabobonem zawsze kryło się coś więcej niż przesąd. W świecie, w którym wiedza i empatia ustępowały miejsca strachowi i intrydze, absurdalne oskarżenia zyskiwały własne życie i stawały się częścią radzenia sobie z problemami a także były wykorzystywanie jako narzędzie kontroli i dezinformacji.

Obecnie do 23 Listopada trwa wystawa części mojego projektu w Klubokawiarni Recepcja we Wrocławiu.

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Ordalia maleficarum Iudicium Ignis

𖤓 Ordalia were the “Judgments of God” aka the witch trials in which the accused were subjected to a series of more or less harmful trials and it was believed that divine justice would reveal the guilty and spare the innocent from harm.

The Trial by Fire, known as Iudicium Ignis: There were many forms of that trial, but less common was when the suspect walks across a path of burning coals barefoot. If her feet miraculously remain unburned, it is taken as undeniable proof of demonic protection and guilt. Yet if she sustains terrible burns, she is still guilty,  for God did not deem her innocent enough to protect her.

In my project, I lead through all the stages of the phenomenon of witchcraft accusations. It is said that there were five main methods, carried out in a specific sequence.

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𖤓 Ordalia w sądach czarownic były to sądy Boże, w których wierzono, iż Pan Najwyższy nie dopuści, by niewinny ucierpiał. Przeto czyniono na obwinionych szereg prób ufając, iż Boska sprawiedliwość ukaże winnego, a niewinnego od krzywdy zachowa. 

Test Ognia, zwany Iudicium Ignis: Podejrzana boso przechodzi przez tor z rozżarzonych węgli; jeśli stopy cudownie nie ulegną poparzeniu, to jest to niezbity dowód diabelskiej protekcji i winy, a jeśli nabawi się straszliwych oparzeń, to też jest winna, bo widocznie Bóg nie uznał jej za wystarczająco niewinną, aby ją osłonić.

W swoim projekcie przeprowadzam przez wszystkie etapy zjawiska oskarżeń o czary. Uznaje się, że istniało 5 głównych metod, które były wykonywane w odpowiedniej kolejności. 

[nihti]

A poster for my exhibition TINOCORO in Valencia

6 semtember 2025

Calle Denia 60 Valencia

Colores Art Gallery

[nihti]

My illustration for @wysokieobcasy in December, 2024

An article about untreated trauma by Joanna Zapała, a clinical psychologist and a psychotherapist ❤️‍🩹💣

It is likely that most of us have experienced the effects of untreated trauma, from everyday situations with people we know or within our own family, to issues in politics and eco-societal structures. Traumas can direct our lives and those around us. They can shape small social groups and the big ones, even on a broader national level. It's important to be aware of its impact on the environment around us. Treating ourselves we not only improve our own world, but also that of the people around us, especially the closest ones. Everyone bears and puts a small burden of and on others. Usually when someone is troubled in the family, all others around him are affected.  

Ink on paper and digital edition.

#wysokieobcasy#pawelponichtera#ponichtera #polskailustracja#polishillustration#editorial#ilustracjaprasowa#editorialillustration#trauma#psychology#ilustracja#agora