The Identity Paradox? Reflections on Fluid Identity of Female Artist

The aim of this paper is to explore the paradoxes in the evolving identity of a professional artist, contributing to theorisation of identity formation and performance. I use an example of a Warsaw‐based female artist of the 1970s’ generation, who has engaged her life experiences in critical practice, Zofia Kulik. Kulik’s identity formation encompasses the process of privately infused professionalism. Her story provides an alternative account of organising identity and professional practice from the local perspective, contributing to the problem of ‘difference’ in work and offers insights into how female professionals, here in the occupation of an artist, can challenge disadvantage and discrimination created by the work context, the art world. The story reveals that contextual factors infuse fluidity in the evolution of creative careers and occupational identities. I conclude that identity construction is an open‐ended process, embracing temporal discontinuities.