{"id":8247,"date":"2025-04-16T10:02:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T08:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediapeople.pl\/?p=8247"},"modified":"2025-12-16T18:03:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T17:03:57","slug":"girls-the-voice-that-stays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediapeople.pl\/en\/dziewczynki-glos-ktory-zostaje\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0\u201cDziewczynki\u201d (\u201cGirls\u201d): voices that endure\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

 In a world of changing trends and fleeting content, art remains one of the most lasting records of our time. Girls <\/em>is a moving exhibition of many voices, creating space for women\u2019s expression while reflecting contemporary emotions, experiences and identities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Media People was proud to support the exhibition. We believe in the power of culture, art and independent creative voices. For us, this is more than sponsorship: it is a commitment to projects and communities whose work will endure. What we leave behind today will help future generations understand our times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organised by the Art Around collective and curated by Kinga Szafrankowska, the exhibition contributes to a wider conversation about women\u2019s agency. It brings together twelve artists from different generations and creative backgrounds, including Izabela Chamczyk, Iwona Demko, Monika Dro\u017cy\u0144ska, Pola Dwurnik, Mariola Przyjemska, Agata Zbylut, Helena Stiasny, Olga Mokrzycka, Monika Mamzeta, Ida Karkoszka and Ewa Goral. Their diverse experiences form a powerful, coherent narrative. The works complement one another, creating space for understanding and learning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition speaks to everyone, including \u2014 perhaps especially \u2014 men. With empathy and nuance, it explores women\u2019s physical, emotional and social experiences. Its invitation is to a conversation that can bring about change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition Girls <\/em>offers an intimate counterpart to the major exhibition of feminist art Chcemy ca\u0142ego \u017cycia. Feminatywy w sztuce polskiej (\u201cWe Want the Whole of Life: Feminine Forms in Polish Art\u201d)<\/em>, shown at the State Gallery of Art in Sopot. Girls <\/em>adds a personal, powerful account of relationships, language, the body, memory and the everyday work of being a woman in a world still learning to listen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition occupied the attic of a historic building at 14 Emilii Plater Street. Raw yet welcoming, the space used the building\u2019s distinctive features to draw out connections between the works. This sensitive approach to the setting is still relatively uncommon in Polish institutional exhibitions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each artist brings a distinct perspective to the shared space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agata Zbylut <\/strong>presents a series of photographs (1) <\/em>and the sculptural object Bezoar (2)<\/em>. Inspired by Intimate Photography <\/em>by Natalia LL, the photographs explore the body and sexuality through contemporary technology. The computer screen represents a space women can shape on their own terms. The work considers how streaming has given some sex workers greater control over their work and distance from exploitative intermediaries. As in other fields, technology can offer new possibilities for independence. The photographs are accompanied by Bezoar <\/em>\u2014 an object made from jewellery donated by women across Poland. These pieces carry memories, relationships and associations with love or protection. Bezoars, once believed to have extraordinary healing powers, become a collective women\u2019s talisman: personal, shared and emotionally charged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Agata Zbylut: photography and Bezoar <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More:<\/em>
https:\/\/www.vogue.pl\/a\/bezoary-artystki-agaty-zbylut-w-zamku-krolewskim-w-warszawie <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.polskieradio.pl\/8\/4756\/Artykul\/3449744,Agata-Zbylut-zaprezentuje-instalacje-Bezoary-na-Zamku-Krolewskim-w-Warszawie<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition includes three works by Mariola Przyjemska <\/strong>from the series Guns <\/em>i Cosmetics<\/em>. In Cezetka <\/em>(3), a firearm becomes an object of fetishisation and aesthetic scrutiny, set against everyday products associated with women. Lanc\u00f4me i r\u00f3\u017ca jest czerwona (\u201cLanc\u00f4me and the Rose Is Red\u201d) (4) <\/em>reworks the cosmetics brand\u2019s emblem, turning the rose into a symbol of revolution, defiance and women\u2019s strength. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mariola Przyjemska: acrylic paintings (3, 4) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vogue.pl\/a\/mariola-przyjemska-szminki-jak-pistolety<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tucked away above a secluded sofa, in a space that suggests the intimacy of breastfeeding, hangs Motherhood <\/em>by Helena Stiasny <\/strong>(5). <\/em>The painting portrays a friend whom the artist has always seen as a figure of quiet strength. Beneath a familiar image of motherhood lie exhaustion, loneliness and emotional strain. The work brings usually invisible experiences into view. Nearby, a woman carrying shopping bags still has a long way to go in Olga Mokrzycka\u2019s <\/strong>\u201eI\u2019m Almost There<\/em>\u201d (6). <\/em>Mokrzycka explores the daily balancing act of mothers combining domestic responsibilities and paid work. The tired figure returning home becomes a symbol of that constant effort. Her minimalist black-and-white paintings (6, 7) recall both 1950s illustration and East Asian painting. Their apparently effortless gestures are the result of years of repetition: thousands of movements that leave little room for accident or correction. Mastery grows from experience, even when the repeated work takes a toll. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Olga Mokrzycka: acrylic paintings (6, 7) <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n


Another artist in the exhibition is Monika Mamzeta<\/strong>. Her Madonna I (8) <\/em>from the series When I Grow Up, I\u2019ll Be a Virgin <\/em>is a photograph displayed in an illuminated advertising lightbox. It portrays a friend and the artist\u2019s young daughter, exploring cultural expectations of women as carers and figures of self-sacrifice. Across the series, mothers and daughters take on familiar religious poses, becoming contemporary Madonnas and Piet\u00e0s whose lives also encompass suffering, ageing and illness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Monika Mamzeta with her photograph in a lightbox (8) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.wysokieobcasy.pl\/wysokie-obcasy\/7,163229,26643680,smiale-2020-monika-mamzeta.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hanging in a narrow, secluded space at the centre of the attic is Moth <\/em>by Ida Karkoszka <\/strong>(9). The aluminium sculpture moves between bodily realism and abstraction. From a distance, it resembles a hunting trophy: the antlers of an unfamiliar animal, crossed by a dark band. Its central black rectangle evokes Kazimir Malevich\u2019s Black Square and the sacred Black Stone in Mecca. Closer inspection reveals women\u2019s legs, with thighs, calves and curled feet. The sculpture alternately attracts and unsettles the viewer, suggesting femininity as a magnetic, elusive force. The moth\u2019s associations with night, mystery and the afterlife add another layer of meaning. The work also recalls Gustave Courbet\u2019s once-scandalous painting The Origin of the World <\/em>from 1866. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ida Karkoszka: aluminium sculpture (9) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/wyborcza.pl\/7,112588,30806954,dwie-polski-na-pierwszym-malta-biennale-omenaa-mensah-i-kobiety.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Tucked into corners of the attic, the paintings of Ewa Goral <\/strong>seem to sprout tropical, organic forms. Geography of Femininity (10) <\/em>offers a sensual, almost mystical view of the female interior, combining abstraction with anatomy. Its central mandorla evokes Gaia and Artemis and opens a reflection on women\u2019s creative power and independence. Goral describes painting as though imagining ayahuasca visions, without claiming to have experienced them. Her works suggest an opening towards transcendence (11,12)<\/em>. These references to altered states bring life, death, sexuality and creation into the same imaginative space. The theme of femininity and reproduction is taken up by Pola Dwurnik <\/strong>in Borsuka (13)<\/em>. Dwurnik creates an unsettling allegory of women\u2019s position in contemporary culture. A woman lies at the centre as if on a production line, surrounded by badgers. Dead animals form the backdrop while living ones seem to mock her. Wearing red fetish-like shoes, the woman becomes a clown reluctantly performing a role imposed by patriarchy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ewa Goral: oil paintings (10, 11, 12) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/dzielna.foundation\/program-kuratorski\/ewa-goral-totem<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pola Dwurnik with her oil painting (13) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/hygge-blog.com\/odwiedziny-kolekcja-mocak-u-pola-dwurnik\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Izabela Chamczyk <\/strong>presents Materialised Naivety (14) <\/em>and the photographic series Mutilated <\/em>i Push & Pull (15, 16). <\/em>These works explore psychological abuse, particularly the experience of women who appear strong in public while facing violence in private. Chamczyk traces withdrawal, exhaustion and silent resignation, asking what independence can cost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Izabela Chamczyk: oil painting (14), the artist with her work, and photographs (15, 16) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.galeriaxx1.pl\/izabela-chamczyk-push-pull\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Viola G\u0142owacka: acrylic paintings <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.wysokieobcasy.pl\/wysokie-obcasy\/7,157211,30465392,viola-glowacka-z-husarka-na-obrazie-czulam-sie-razniej-mariusz.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works by Viola G\u0142owacka <\/strong>seem to stand guard, defending the possibility of a better world. In her politically engaged paintings, hussar armour and knightly figures become symbols of women\u2019s strength and resistance. The series Women Knights <\/em>grew out of social protest. Its first painting \u2014 a female hussar galloping through lava \u2014 was created as a banner for the Manifa march on 8 March 2021. Drawing on experiences of exclusion and anger, G\u0142owacka uses martial imagery to express defiance and offer encouragement. She openly supports the LGBTQ+ community and equality movements. Her art speaks loudly, even when the artist herself chooses silence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another corner of the exhibition presents works by Professor Iwona Demko <\/strong>(17, 18,19). <\/em>The title of one work refers to Virginia Woolf\u2019s essay A Room of One\u2019s Own <\/em>from 1929. It depicts a space belonging to a self-assured woman: a feminist who has taken part in Poland\u2019s Black Protests. Seated as if on a throne, she radiates independence. A portrait of Woolf stands on her desk, while a replica of Katarzyna Kobro\u2019s Spatial Composition 3 <\/em>from 1928 sits among the books. This woman knows the activists, writers and artists who came before her. Yet visitors can see her room only through a keyhole, turning the act of looking into something uncomfortably voyeuristic. The white cube <\/em>has a pink interior, visible only by peering in at its occupant. Beside A Room of One\u2019s Own <\/em>is Szmata (\u201cRag\u201d) <\/em>\u2014 a pleated skirt made from a kitchen cloth and suspended from a pink hanger. In Polish, szmata <\/em>means both a rag and a degrading insult directed at women. Here, it also suggests cleaning up an unjust social order and rebuilding it into <\/p>\n\n\n\n

something different. Demko challenges the idea that a short skirt could justify judgement or sexual violence. Her embroidered work Studentka (\u201cFemale Student\u201d)<\/em>advocates feminine forms in Polish, making women\u2019s presence in professions and social roles more visible. The works share the artist\u2019s favourite colour: the shocking pink <\/em>associated with Elsa Schiaparelli and the influential Polish artist Maria Pini\u0144ska-Bere\u015b. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Iwona Demko: installation\/sculpture (17), embroidered work (18) and readymade sculpture (19) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/zwierciadlo.pl\/spotkania\/532412,1,iwona-demko–waginatystka-czyli-artystka-idei.read<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The twelfth artist is Monika Drozynska<\/strong>, this year\u2019s recipient of a Polityka Passport award. She presents the embroidered series Silver and Golden Thoughts<\/em>. Everyday phrases heard in the street, the media and political debate become records of their time. Text is a form of resistance; embroidery combines disruption with attentive care. The works also carry the humour of a social media meme or <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a handwritten note offering advice. Stitching becomes a way of paying attention to words, turning them over and transforming them into something lasting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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