don’t be afraid, it won’t bite
2016
reclaimed fabrics, knitwear fragments,, crochet thread, cotton lace, threads, leather gloves, tights
140 × 190 cm

The work was created specifically for the exhibition HERstory of Art. It responds to a question posed by the exhibition curator: what would happen if well-known, groundbreaking works of art created by men were made by women instead? For this project, I drew inspiration from the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Basquiat was a representative of Neo-Expressionism and a pioneer of graffiti. He believed that streets looked like art. He insisted that in his works every line meant something — nothing was accidental. “When I paint, I think about life, not art,” he said in one interview. He had a mission: “I realised I had never seen a painting with Black people in it. I am interested in painting Black people,” he explained, manifesting identity through art.

I decided to apply a similar way of thinking and translate it into my own context. My work Don’t Be Afraid, It Won’t Bite is closely connected to my personal experience as a mother. Almost constantly I encounter comments and well-intentioned advice from both close people and complete strangers. It is sometimes difficult to respond without offending anyone, while at the same time asserting one’s own position. At times, the hardest thing is not to react at all — and expressionism turned out to be the most appropriate language for describing this state. A form so close also to Basquiat himself.

The work received the Grand Prix at the 2nd Textile Art Biennial in Poznań. It is currently in the collection of the National Museum in Poznań.