And There It Will Grow… / solo exhibition

And There It Will Grow…  is the title of my individual exhibition, which took place on November 5, 2022 in the former Evangelical Church in Prószków. The project was implemented thanks to the scholarship of the Marshal of the Opole Voivodeship „Marszałkowskie Talenty” (Marshall Talents),  co-financed by the Opole Voivodeship.

When singing folk songs with a group of women close to me, I feel as if the voices of many generations were resonating with us. As if my history reflected stories I had already experienced in another time and place. Using my body as a creative tool, I read it anew. In my works, I used plant motifs appearing in songs. Often, plants represent the emotional and emotional side of man, and through them dark secrets are revealed. Natural phenomena become a reflection of internal anxieties and experiences. The exhibition is arranged in a space designed as a temple; In the past, it was an object of worship and a symbolic representation of the world order. The places where I placed my works were selected appropriately. My works feature themes related to death and separation on the one hand, and the life-giving erotic force of nature on the other. In this microcosm of meanings, I am looking for my path, my voice in the great chorus of the world. The exhibition and activities are accompanied by a performance by the „Niezłe Ziółka” band, led by Iwona Wylęgała, composed of: Weronika Baran, Maria Bitka, Melania Duda and Iwona Wylęgała.

Trace / performance, lipstick drawing on the floor, projection, collaboration: Magda Wolnicka
There were lipstick marks on the floor; Flashback; the road on a black and white, checkerboard-like floor. The heroine of the song accompanying the performance – Marika – dies of a headache (a euphemism for pregnancy). Her fiancé – Ignac – as soon as he learns about the situation, immediately returns from the war, but is excluded from the community.

The apple tree / video performance, time: 4:14 min, photos: Iwona Ogrodzka, 2021
The apple tree bends under the weight of fruit ripening in the sun. I stand under it, in a forgotten orchard, I put lipstick on my lips and leave their imprint on the apples, a declaration of love – as if on a secret letter. A trace of red lipstick on a green fruit looks as if it is blushing. A kiss is a gesture of adoration of nature, but also an erotic provocation… After all, it is an

The carol / golden mirror, clay, soot from the furnace from the family home, rose oil, diameter 40 cm
Light emerges from the crack.
The object was used and processed during the performance activity carried out in cooperation with Magda Wolnicka.

By the river She Walked / video production, time: 4:40 min, editing and photos: Maria Bitka, 2021/2022
I’m wading in a dry river.
I braid a braid; like an ear of corn or waves; limitation, but also order; taming the instincts.
Three roads combined into one.
I’m wading in the stream from my dream.

And There It Will Grow … / series of photographs, dimensions 45 × 50 cm, authors of performative photographs: Iwona Ogrodzka, Jowita Lis and Ilona Barszcz

I paint white flowers red like the gardeners in L. Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland who accidentally planted a white rose bush in the place of a red one. Instead of paint, I use my own blood. It is menstrual blood, absent from our iconosphere, cursed, dirty and terrible, unlike the sanctified blood of soldiers. In a song sung during the performance, lilies, carnations and roses grow on the ash from the body of an infanticide, in other songs flowers develop from drops of a soldier’s blood. Death is intertwined with life – flowers will give rise to seeds, fruits, and from them subsequent plant generations. The photographs also include a photo of the roots and bulb of the lily I grew – the underground equivalent of a flower, a link with the world of the dead. An apple is a fruit that refers us to many associations and symbols: in the rural tradition – a symbol of health, vitality and love (including the sensual one), the biblical fruit of knowledge, mythological golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides, the apple of discord or the fairy-tale poisoned apples. On the photo red color can be seen in the crack of a cracked apple. It is – just like in works with flowers – blood that flows from the wound caused by separation from the world. Two halves of a cut apple – a sign of love, unity and harmony – are separated and bloody.

Beliefs about the soul transforming into a plant were widespread among the Slavs. A relic of beliefs there are stories about lilies growing on the graves of innocent people. Lilies were planted on graves, believing that they are the seat and shell of the souls of deceased persons.