The Innocent, (from the series Museum of Conceived Soldiers), glazed ceramics, 2025. The work is inspired by the works of the Italian Renaissance master Andrea della Robia, and specifically the medallions he made that decorate the facade of the Hospital of the Innocents (also known as the foundling shelter) in Florence. The medallions iconographically refer to representations of the motif of the infant Jesus in art. By referring to this work, the artist gives it a new, contemporary context and broadens the perspective of interpretation, taking part in an important social discussion. The work is an attemp to deconstruction the “culture of war”. This is how Justyna Muszyńska-Szkodzik, editor and journalist of the cultural magazine "Kalejdoskop" and "Powidoki" - a thematic artistic and scientific magazine published by the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, wrote about the project: "Congratulations on "Conceived Soldiers", a strong installation, with a great deal of irony and an unobtrusive message so necessary in view of what is happening in our world. For me, the vision of fighting fetuses is shocking, it touches my heart and makes me think - and that is what art is for. You are doing great things, you are taking a stance in an important social discussion, you are going your own way and keep it up!".
About the project "Museum of Conceived Soldiers" (2019 in the process).
"Museum of Conceived Soldiers" is an ironic-critical commentary on the destructive, but still relevant, patriarchal (national-military) cultural patterns, which carry with them, among other things, the legitimacy of violence, the sanctioning of war as a natural human activity, also in a religious context, as well as physical and psychological violence against women - alongside the cult of the unborn.
In the general human sense, it is a perverse message about the lack of respect for the human being, treated from conception like "cannon fodder", where the pattern of fighting and dying for the homeland is promoted as moral and attractive. In this context, the protection of conceived life (such a lively topic in national discourse) gains a dimension of powerful irony. And the work forces us to reflect more deeply on life in general, also against the background of phenomena occurring in society.
We are born and shaped from an early age in the “culture of war.” War rhetoric is omnipresent in our language and way of communicating. In order for the ever-present cultural patterns to stop copying each other, repeating tragic history, it is necessary to change the current paradigms. Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko warns us against the dangers of the “culture of war.” “The author uncompromisingly believes that if we do not acknowledge the existence of the current “culture of war” and do not cut the umbilical cord that still inexorably connects us with glorified history and the celebration of aggression, then we cannot claim that we will resolve armed conflict in the future. For peace to prevail, we must first face the “culture of war,” admit to it, and finally abandon it. Krzysztof Wodiczko consciously assumes new patterns of global interdependence as a necessary step on the path to real peace.”
"A series of scenes on a military theme, a "war game", whose heroes are unborn figures instead of adult soldiers, critically and mockingly refers to the views still dominant in Polish society on the traditional division of life roles between women and men and preparing for them through upbringing". fragment of the article "Frakcja z warkoczami", Lena Wicherkiewicz, FORMAT (84), art magazine, May, 2020
