Artwork description:
Everyone, at least once in his lifetime, probably asked him/herself a question: who am I? In my work, I deal with the topic of motherhood and a woman’s struggle for her own identity. The contemporary woman suffers from the permanent conflict of duties. In a multitude of activities, she constantly fights for her identity, to keep her work-life balance.
The professional life of a woman who becomes a mother is not the easiest. Currently, the woman’s scope of responsibilities grows to an enormous size. Her role has expanded: she has to be a heroine, idealized by handbooks, and commercials. In effect, the contemporary woman lasts in a permanent conflict – inner – with herself and outer – striving to meet the requirements imposed on her by society.
However, in the painting ‘She and herself’ I do not show the problem of a mother, but rather of an adolescent daughter. The painting deals with the issue of self-identity developing during the period of adolescence. Teenagers have ambivalent emotional experiences, and parents are not always able to understand their behavior. Their perception of the child is the picture of a creature labile and emotionally unstable. On the one hand, the protagonist is still a child (hence the authentic child’s drawing pasted into the picture), and on the other hand, she is becoming a young woman.
The perception of the world, as a clear and simple construction becomes difficult. Thus, the choice of colors in the painting, black fighting yellow. The protagonist of the picture feels she loses control of her changing body.
Biography:
Born 1982. B.A. in Polish philology, M. A. in fine arts, graduated from the University of Rzeszów. Twice scholarship holder of the Polish Minister of Science. 20 individual exhibitions, participant of artistic projects and more than 100 national and international collective exhibitions and plein aires. Winner of several artistic prizes. She publishes in the literary-artistic journal „Fraza“. A member of Polish Association of Artists (ZPAP) and the editor in chief of Rzeszow ZPAP branch newsletter „Sztuka i Życie“ in years 2011-2018. Currently a PhD student at the University of Rzeszow.
The author of the idea of „MamArtist“: a mother who struggles between art and everyday life. The documentary „MaMalarka“/„MamArtist“ (dir. K. Mazurkiewicz) about the artist undertakes this topic using the language of film.