Ceija Stojka
The Drawing Center, US
20 February - 7 June 2026
Founded in 1977 by curator Martha Beck, The Drawing Center is a non-profit museum in New York’s SoHo district dedicated to exploring drawing as a primary and dynamic form of expression. Having emerged from the experimental SoHo art scene of the 1970s, the centre — a pioneering institution devoted to advancing the medium of drawing as a vital and independent form of artistic expression — continues to offer exhibitions, publications and programmes that highlight the diversity of drawing and its relevance to both history and contemporary culture.
This will be the first major US exhibition of work by Ceija Stojka. Featuring 60 to 80 works from the last two decades of her life, the show will include paintings, drawings and illustrated books, most of which have never been shown in the US. Stojka’s oeuvre depicts both the richness of Roma life before the Second World War and the horrors of the Holocaust, transforming her experience into a visual narrative of remembrance and resilience. Featuring vibrant colours and haunting monochrome scenes, her works highlight her dual role as artist and witness, offering an important perspective on Roma identity and history.
Ceija Stojka (born 1933 in Kraubath an der Mur, Styria, died 2013 in Vienna) was a self-taught Austrian artist, writer, musician and activist of Lovara Roma descent. She was also a Holocaust survivor, who had been deported to the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen as a child. Stojka began her artistic practice later in life, creating more than 1,000 paintings and drawings that depict both the vibrancy of pre-war Roma life and the trauma of the camps. Working in expressive folk styles, her art forms a crucial record of memory, identity and survival.
This is the second collaboration between Ceija Stojka’s work and Phileas, following her participation at the 35th Bienal de São Paulo in 2023.
This project was aided by a research trip to Vienna by the curator Lynne Cooke, organised by Phileas in February 2023.
