Abakanowicz is considered to be one of the most well-known artists from Poland in the global art community. Two of his most noteworthy creations, Agora in Chicago and Birds of Knowledge of Good and Evil in Milwaukee, can be found in the United States.
From 1965 to 1990, she served as a professor at the University of Fine Arts in Poznan, Poland. Additionally, in 1984, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. From 1965 to 1990, she held a position at the University of Fine Arts. At the age of nine, Abakanowicz and her family were in Poland during the invasion and occupation by Nazi Germany.
During the war, they resided in the suburbs of Warsaw and joined the Polish resistance as active members. At 14 years old, she worked as a nurse’s assistant in a Warsaw hospital, which later in life impacted her artistic expression. During that time, she directly witnessed the effects of war.
After the war, the family relocated to Tczew, a small city in northern Poland near Gdansk, in hopes of starting anew. In Poland, artists were required to follow the guidelines of the recently established communist government. These guidelines mandated that socialist realism was the sole acceptable artistic style for artists to pursue.
In Poland, Modernism and other cultural movements faced strict censorship and were officially banned within the Communist Bloc nations. Despite the lack of official support, Abakanowicz persevered in her pursuit of a revolutionary artistic path.