Limits I, II, III, IV, V

Graphics object series "Limits" (I, II, III, IV, V)

Inspired by my participation as an artist leading workshops in cultural education initiatives in prisons, I created a series of graphic objects that address the constraints faced by women in Polish prisons. Valuable moments—phone calls, walks, and baths—become long-awaited "momentum" and quickly pass. The cramped living space is filled with a limited number of trivial objects that facilitate mental and physical well-being. How do you arrange your space and survive in such conditions?

The work began as part of my participatory art project at documenta 15 in Kassel, which was a component of Jenny Brockmann's performative work, Bypass/Entanglement #4. For the graphic tools, I used flour sifters and numerous elements created with vector graphics. After completing the compositions with the public, I processed them independently and continued working on them until they achieved their final form.

The series, titled "Limits," is a continuation of my long-standing practice of telling stories through pictograms and similar simple forms, both representational and abstract. The primary mediums for these works are paper and wood, and sometimes I apply my custom pictograms to various objects. The choice of using a sifter alludes to the prisoners' necessity of creatively repurposing objects for different functions. The sifter's grid-like structure was also interesting to me, resembling a prison grate that the images of people and objects would ultimately "penetrate."

The "Limits" series has been featured in the main exhibition "Momentum" at the International Print Triennial in Krakow, Nowa Huta Cultural Centre, Poland (2024), in my solo exhibition "Hidden Resources," Intymna Gallery of the Silesian Library's Educational House in Katowice, Poland (2022), and at the SWPS University Graphics Gallery, Wrocław, Poland (2022).

Diameter of a single object: 41 cm, depth: 8 cm