In the years 2018 - 2022, she studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, she completed her bachelor's studies at the 3EAM studio under the guidance of R. Sedlačík and M. Fabian. From 2022, he continues his studies at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam. Paulína Gajerová, the debutant of the competition, explores in her work primarily issues of personal or collective identity. Painting serves her as a personalized system of signs, she draws inspiration from Internet culture - in the past she was particularly fascinated by the formation of national identity in virtual space, especially its stereotyping and humor. However, her study stay in Amsterdam provided her with an important distance from her home environment, which was also reflected in the more general anchoring of the painting program. He is primarily turned inward, but introspection does not only refer to self-observation, but also to a kind of search for a way, "back home". Gajer's work is clearly anchored in the present, even though he talks about general and timeless topics in a language that moves away from mainstream visuals. In his paintings, he gets rid of objectivity to the point of a kind of prototype, in which the theme itself is not primary, but rather the associative handling of stimuli. This is also confirmed by the final work Deeply Rooted (2023). The question of identity opens before the viewer through the seemingly simple display of the root system. For the author, this represents not only a deep anchoring of collective mythologies of the past and learned habits, but also space for growth and strength for adaptation to a new situation. Although the painting depicts a motif from the plant kingdom, the dynamics of its growth has something anthropomorphic in it. It reminds us of the mandrake, a mysterious (magical) plant whose root resembled a human figure. At the same time, the connection with the figure is rather involuntary, subliminal... The special physicality to which Gajerová is developing confirms the exceptional sensitivity of the author (and not only in the painting). Directing attention to the roots, along with a pragmatic consideration of their numerous and irreplaceable functions (nourishment, synthesis of growth, mechanical fixation in the soil, supply of nutrients, reproduction...) finally leads us to experience something extremely moving and extraordinary.