Exercise Is Technique

Exhibition: “It’s no time to regret the roses when the woods burn”
march - april, 2024
OP ENHEIM, Wrocław, Poland
Curator: Kama Wróbel
Text: Kama Wróbel
Photo: Alicja Kielan

"When I'm working with chainmail, I often think that this material requires patience and discipline, things that girls are taught in primary school. Linen, on the other hand, is a raw, soft, flexible material that is easy to manoeuvre, change, shape, arrange. It is a material that is the starting point for working on matter, fabric."
- Ala Savashevich

Ala Savashevich, an artist of Belarusian origin who has spent years working on the theme of collective memory and identity formation in societies with a history of authoritarianism and patriarchy, explores similar issues in her latest installation. On a formal level, the artist refers to the exhibition Arm and Protect, curated by Joanna Sokołowska, in which a prominent role was played by a chainmail. This time, the object is discreetly among bundles of carefully combed raw linen, speaking to us from beneath the multiplied images of model students. It becomes a core, a backbone, shaped by the system over the years, which imperceptibly formats unsuspecting young minds by turning itself into an integral part of their mentality. Our mentality.