On the sword and on the distaff side, 2021-22, oil on the ironing boards, dimensions variable, Interior exhibition view, BWA Katowice, 2022, photo: Aleksandra Liput
On the sword and on the distaff side, 2021-22, oil on the ironing board, Knights of the vicious circle exhibition view, Serce Człowieka Gallery, photo: Kamil Pierwszy
On the sword and on the distaff side, 2021-22, oil on the
ironing board, Knights ... exhibition view, Serce
Człowieka Gallery, photo: Kamil Pierwszy
On the sword and on the distaff side, 2021-22, oil on the ironing board, dimensions variable, Knights of the vicious circle exhibition view, Serce Człowieka Gallery, photo: Kamil Pierwszy
On the sword and on the distaff side, 2021-22, oil on the ironing board, dimensions variable, Knights of the vicious circle exhibition view, Serce Człowieka Gallery, photo: Filip Preis
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The series of paintings of huge swords on ironing boards and they miniaturized doll-size versions. The title On the sword and on the distaff indicates a reflection on gender roles in historical perspective. These ironing boards are mostly some second-hand, found objects, worn-out and covered with some banal, corny textile patterns.Â
As Marta Lisok writes, heavy and dignified shapes of swords “now are supporting themselves on the thin legs of objects inscribed in the imaginarium of the order reserved for the private sphere, so that they become harmless and trivialized. At the same time the ironing board itself as a sign of everyday routine acquires a new predatory potential through the image of a sword on it. It becomes a sign of accumulated aggression and fury. Simple interpretation paths intersect additionally in the context of the miniature versions of the above objects which Sakowska prepares in a size to fit a doll’s house. Innocent ironing boards being the background for swords, connoting power and epic, insidiously shatter the natural order of things. Clear instructions for the performance of gender roles inscribed in toys designed for a specific cultural gender are softened and blurred here.”
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On the sword and on the distaff side, 2021-22, oil on the ironing boards, dimensions variable, Interior exhibition view, BWA Katowice, 2022, photo: Aleksandra Liput
On the sword and on the distaff side, 2021-22, oil on the ironing board, Knights of the vicious circle exhibition view, Serce Człowieka Gallery, photo: Kamil Pierwszy
On the sword and on the distaff side, 2021-22, oil on the ironing board, Knights ... exhibition view, Serce Człowieka Gallery, photo: Kamil Pierwszy
On the sword and on the distaff side, 2021-22, oil on the ironing board, dimensions variable, Knights of the vicious circle exhibition view, Serce Człowieka Gallery, photo: Kamil Pierwszy
On the sword and on the distaff side, 2021-22, oil on the ironing board, dimensions variable, Knights of the vicious circle exhibition view, Serce Człowieka Gallery, photo: Filip Preis
The series of paintings of huge swords on ironing boards and they miniaturized doll-size versions. The title On the sword and on the distaff indicates a reflection on gender roles in historical perspective. These ironing boards are mostly some second-hand, found objects, worn-out and covered with some banal, corny textile patterns.Â
As Marta Lisok writes, heavy and dignified shapes of swords “now are supporting themselves on the thin legs of objects inscribed in the imaginarium of the order reserved for the private sphere, so that they become harmless and trivialized. At the same time the ironing board itself as a sign of everyday routine acquires a new predatory potential through the image of a sword on it. It becomes a sign of accumulated aggression and fury. Simple interpretation paths intersect additionally in the context of the miniature versions of the above objects which Sakowska prepares in a size to fit a doll’s house. Innocent ironing boards being the background for swords, connoting power and epic, insidiously shatter the natural order of things. Clear instructions for the performance of gender roles inscribed in toys designed for a specific cultural gender are softened and blurred here.”
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