Book Raider 2019

Solo show at Shefter Gallery 

We can say that the idea for the project was born because of my mother. Precisely because she brought a radio to my house and set up a station playing Polish hits of the old days.I involuntarily started to listen the songs I remembered from my childhood. This time, I have heard their lyrics and I was shocked. Remembering only the chorus and the catchy melody, I now heard the whole thing, I heard it from the perspective of being a woman. Aware of all the oppression associated with it. For a long time I didn’t know what to do, how to show others, how to make them hear what I hear. Finally, I decided to play the role of a fictitious researcher from the future, who has the opportunity to look from a distance at the notebook found in the attic of the old house. The note book full of lyrics and photographs of stage stars of the second half of the 20th century becomes a pretext for a critical analysis not only of its content but of the whole society. At the exhibition you can see my mother’s authentic notebook actually found in the attic and mine, which I intricately modified. In the video, I play the role of a woman from the 70s’ wearing my mom’s dress, which she got as a gift from America. The story of the researcher is intertwined with Robert Altman’s film “Three Women” and ends with the surprisingly progressive and strong voice of Lesly Gore “you don’t own me”. Dating from 1963, the song can serve as a manifesto about the freedom to self-determination and being a separate entity as a woman.

Link to the video „Book Raider” :