AVAILABLE - Polish Women - Polish Swallows - longing for freedom

Diptych connected by a metal installation in the format 180x100cm. The work consists of two oil paintings framed in metal and a spatial installation made of metal.In 2021, the work received the silver medal "Lorenzo il Magnifico" in the Mixed Media category at the XIII Florence Biennale.In 2024, the work was presented at the exhibition Polki-Polskie Jaskółki during the Góry Literatury Festival under the auspices of the Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk in Nowa Ruda.

The work was presented in 2024 at the exhibition Polki-Polskie Jaskółki during the Góry Literatury Festival, initiated by the Olga Tokarczuk Foundation. The current exhibition is an extension of the one presented in 2021 in Florence at the Biennale, where it received a silver medal in the mixed media art category. The exhibition at the Nowa Art Space Gallery in Nowa Ruda Polki-Polskie deals with women's freedom from violence and the possibility of making their own decisions.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

• two oil paintings on canvas + spatial installation made of metal
• 180x100cm
• presented at the exhibition Polki-Polskie Jaskółki during the Góry Literatury Festival in Nowa Ruda - 2024
• XIII Florence Biennale 2021 - Fortezza da Basso, Italy, Florence - 2021
• silver medal "Lorenzo il Magnifico" Mixed Media category
• framed in a metal framesigned (name and surname of the artist, year of creation)

XIII Florence Biennale 2021In 2021, the International Jury of the Florence Biennale, composed of distinguished scientists, historians and art critics, awarded the "Lorenzo il Magnifico" awards to the best artists in several categories. This year, the Polish artist Maja Gajewska was also honored in Florence. "Polki - Polskie Swallows" won the silver medal "Lorenzo il Magnifico" in the Mixed Media category at the XIII Florence Biennale.

The main idea of the work:

The current exhibition is an extension of the one presented in 2021 during the XIII Florence Biennale. At that time, the work "Polish Women - Polish Swallows - Longing for Freedom" was awarded a silver medal in the Mixed Media category. Returning to the topic at the moment is not accidental. In recent months, the debate on the law on termination of pregnancy has once again appeared in the public space.

Poland has had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe since the 1990s. Despite this, on 22.10.2020, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal went a step further, issuing a judgment banning abortion due to severe and irreversible damage to the fetus or an incurable disease that threatens its life. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets. Mass, anti-government social protests began against the tightening of abortion laws in Poland. Protesters held banners with slogans such as: "Women's Hell", "My Body, My Choice", "Women's Strike", "We've Been Polite", "Poland is a Woman". The scale of the protests was unprecedented. Demonstrations of thousands took place not only in large cities, but also in smaller towns. Women's groups spoke out and met the politicians' position.

The fight for women's rights has begun - in the 21st century, in Europe, in a European Union country, in white and red Poland, where white stands for goodness and purity, and red stands for the dignity and majesty of Polish rulers. The Constitutional Tribunal, a Polish constitutional court that is in principle independent of political power, in October 2020 was a highly politicized institution, dependent on the ruling party, cultivating a populist narrative based on radical judgments, primarily in matters of morality.