Elżbieta Gawin-Knaga (known professionally as Ela Gawin) is a Polish photographer, online personality and content creator. She is most known for her controversial livestreams and photography ventures, which include accusations of intellectual property theft and an ongoing custody battle for her underaged child.

Early and personal life

Elżbieta Gawin was born on June 19, 1970 in Kraków, Poland^[2]. She attended primary and secondary school (Bartłomiej Nowodworski High School) in the same city. Gawin got married to a pastry chef, Andrzej Knaga, in 2007^[3], and subsequently divorced him in 2012^[4]. Her father was an acclaimed Polish geophysicist, Adam Gawin. She has one child, a minor daughter born in 2010^[5], and claims to have miscarried twice before the birth of her daughter^[6].

Education

She is a graduate of Polish Studies at the Faculty of Humanities of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (majoring in Film Studies)^[7]. She released a scan of her diploma online, and it was quickly discovered by her fans that she doctored the image by changing her final grade from 3 (satisfactory) to 5 (very good)^[2]

Career

Photography

Gawin owned a photography atelier on the Kraków's main square^[8], however due to cost of the rent she moved it into her private apartment^[9]. She is often criticised due to the quality of her work and some photographers accused Gawin of allegedly stealing their intellectual property and claiming pictures taken by other professionals are actually hers^[10][11][12].

YouTube

Gawin has several YouTube channels, including one named after her daughter, the main one being Ela Gawin. She livestreams frequently and posts vlogs featuring her daily life; in the years past, her minor daughter was frequently featured^[13].Her content if often described as disturbing, since Gawin consumes alcohol during livestreams, goes into offensive tirades against police, judges, Polish justice system in general, the current political situation in Poland^[14] and apparent “communist occupation of Poland”. She often claims to be a devout Catholic and a conservative, a voter of Law and Justice political party, although she questions the Catholic dogma occasionally and has mentioned to be bisexual. Gawin became a so-called lolcow, and an internet phenomenon, causing a lot of content covering her online activity being produced by other online creators.

Politics

In 2018, Gawin ran for a district councilor in the city of Kraków, receiving in total 7 votes^[15].

Controversies

Gawin's daughter, Maria, was taken into protective custody in November 2022 due to Gawin featuring her excessively during livestreams, releasing sensitive information about he child, including her private phone number, address of residence, age, PESEL number, location of her school and schedule, and calling upon another YouTube personality, rapper Psychotrop, to kill both of them during a recorded phone call^[16]. In another phone call from 2023, Gawin admitted to purchasing alcohol and e-cigarettes for her minor daughter when the child was already under protective custody^[17]. Since mid-2022, her apartment if often raided by the police during livestreams due to Gawin talking about suicidal ideation and releasing information about her minor daughter's whereabouts while in protective custody.

Gawin repeatedly reports in great detail the nuances of the custody battle, including her psychiatric evaluations, court hearings and such, describing the separation of her child from her as a punishment for being a conservative, aimed at her daughter rather than Gawin herself. A psychological evaluation of her and her ex-husband, commissioned by the District court for the city of Kraków, was leaked; in it Gawin was described as severely lacking in child-rearing skills^[18].

References