Proposal Abstract

Femigraphic (Irena Keckes, Croatia/Guam & Katarzyna Zimna, Poland)

‘Beads’, a collaborative print installation (linocut, woodcut) on textile, approx. 9 x 100×70 cm, 2019/20

The motif of beads, an ordinary piece of jewellery, brings attention to the main themes explored by the collective: feminine values treated as remedies to some contemporary problems. Beads can carry various messages and refer to various categories: culture, identity, sexuality, power, politics and religion. They are innocent mute objects until they are filled with meaning by the wearer. The beads we present refer to the ideas of togetherness, women’s solidarity and strength and are inspired by traditional red beads necklaces popular in Eastern Europe. The images are created with two layers of print—the grey outline, the ‘neutral’ form—created by Katarzyna and the emotionally charged filling created by Irena.

Apart from the theme and visual form, this is the process of creation that is crucial for our project. We live in distant places—Guam and Poland, communicate via Internet, send our works back and forth by mail. By this collaborative process, we cross boundaries—not just geographical, but the boundaries of the medium of printmaking as well, especially in reference to the idea of authorship and the purpose of multiplication. In our project the multiple versions of ‘the same’ print refer to various meanings and emotions that can be encoded in beads. Collaborative work and the strategy of multiplication stress the democratic aspect of printmaking that we practise.

We assume the process of realisation of this project for the following four to six months; its final form is yet to be determined. It may include some elements of other media like embroidery, photo documentation and installation.