"A Man’s World No More" exhibition

The exhibition will present works that have been created over the last two decades. The oldest of these the artist produced when still a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. The latest, created in recent months, will be shown to the public for the first time. All the works have a common denominator: they present various forms of opposing male domination, both in the private and public sphere.

The main protagonist and symbol of the exhibition is the Medusa. Małgorzata Markiewicz crocheted this work in 2020, using natural materials: sheep’s wool, linen, hemp and sisal. The object has tentacles several metres long; it can be used as a covering or costume for performative actions, but also as a stand-alone. The work draws on the myth of the fearsome Medusa, whose gaze would turn people into stone. Hélène Cixous’s essay The Laugh of the Medusa was an important point of reference for the artist in creating this work. In it, the philosopher describes, among other things, the centuries of women’s exclusion from the mainstream of history. She urges women to regain the subjectivity they have been deprived of. The Medusa presented at the exhibition can be viewed as a symbol of the liberation of women’s creative power. 

The exhibition is accompanied by an annex, where several works by other artists, selected by Małgorzata Markiewicz, are on display. It includes two sculptures by Maria Pinińska-Bereś, a painting by Jadwiga Sawicka and an object by Maria Mytrofanova, as well as video works by VALIE EXPORT, Debora Hirsch & Iaia Filiberti, Katarzyna Górna, Valentina Miorandi and Alicja Żebrowska. The selected works address issues of social relations and female sexuality, and highlight cultural oppression that curtails opportunities for women. 

By making available to other female artists space within her own exhibition, Małgorzata Markiewicz demonstrates that women should share with other women what they have been given as individuals – in order to enhance the presence and collective power of women.

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