In Patching Femininity, artist Olga Anacka explores and challenges visual representations of femininity and the female body in Western culture.

This exhibition is part of Polish Festival 2024.

Comprising a dozen embroidered tapestries, this body of work is very personal, with images derived from the artist’s memory and family archive, juxtaposed with symbolic representations of the feminine drawn from internet searches and commonplace stereotypes.

The artist examines the subject from the perspective of a mature, migrant woman who has experienced significant social change. In an honest conversation, she questions what is expected as feminine and attempts to define her personal position.

In developing this exhibition, the artist references Polish Critical Art of the 1990s, the work of Alicja Żebrowska, Ela Jabłońska, Zbigniew Libera and Anna Baumgart. She is inspired by authors such as Catherine Blackledge and Annie Ernaux, as well as memoirs of Kazimiera Czerniec who was her great-great-aunt born circa 1890.

Further information here.