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- Symbolism:<\/strong> She embodies winter’s icy grasp, pestilence, and death, but her drowning represents the triumph over these, allowing the Goddess of Spring (such as Vesna or Lada) to return.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Ritual Procession:<\/strong> Children and adults parade the effigy, which is often dressed in white, through the village before throwing it into a river, lake, or pond.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Origins:<\/strong> The tradition dates back to medieval Slavic paganism, particularly in Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Modern Adaptation:<\/strong> In modern times, the ritual is often seen as an eco-friendly celebration of the end of winter. Concerns over pollution have led some to prefer making smaller, fully biodegradable dolls or using natural materials like straw and flax.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
The work emerged from a need to confront the tension between the personal experience of motherhood and the cultural burden of the figure of the \u201cPolish Mother\u201d (\u201cMatka Polka\u201d). Deeply rooted in Polish tradition, this term carries the expectation of total sacrifice \u2014 a love so absolute that the woman as an individual ceases to exist, dissolving entirely into the role of the mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatka Polka Marzanna\u201d references the ritual of drowning Marzanna \u2014 the symbolic farewell to winter. In this work, that gesture is reversed and problematised. It is not only the departure of what is \u201ccold\u201d and \u201cdead,\u201d but also an attempt to erase a woman\u2019s former identity: her autonomy, memory, and desires. The old self is burned and submerged \u2014 not necessarily by choice.<\/p>\n
An important element of the work is the use of craft materials: wicker, a hand-knitted sweater, Koniak\u00f3w lace, and traditional highlander shoes (kierpce). These materials carry a multigenerational, often familial tradition of handmade labour \u2014 a quiet, repetitive effort connecting care, domesticity, and creativity. Their presence expresses respect for the skills of women who, for generations, combined motherhood with craft work.<\/p>\n
The abstract pregnant belly \u2014 created from a recycled drawing of a dancer-mother on tracing paper \u2014 speaks of the pressure, exhaustion, fragility, and physical stretching that motherhood inscribes onto the body and identity of the artist-mother. The lamp form glows softly from within, revealing how close to the surface the inner world exists: almost visible, almost breaking through. Illuminated by a pulsating light that imitates the beating of a mother\u2019s heart, it reminds us that beneath this delicate surface, intense emotional and physical labour is constantly taking place.<\/p>\n
The motif of the mask \u2014 made from lace \u2014 together with the Koniak\u00f3w lace underwear, refers both to concealment and to intimacy and inheritance. I have worked with Koniak\u00f3w lace for years and remain fascinated by its enduring delicacy, strength, and symbolism. Lace-making is deeply personal to me because, much like in my own family, it is a craft passed down from women to women. The lace conceals, yet never fully disappears: it allows us to sense that beneath the surface there is still someone more than the assigned role.<\/p>\n
Light filtering through these materials acts as a medium of revival \u2014 revealing their structure, fragility, and traces of use. It binds the elements of the installation together, giving them new life and meaning. In this way, the project becomes a story about repair, recovery, and transformation \u2014 about what has been rejected, worn out, or hidden, and what can be seen and reworked anew.<\/p>\n
The work does not reject motherhood, but reveals its complexity \u2014 as an experience filled simultaneously with love and loss, intimacy and symbolic violence. It asks: what exactly must be \u201cdrowned\u201d for a woman to be recognised as a \u201cgood mother\u201d?<\/p>\n
\u201cMatka Polka Marzanna\u201d does not propose a single resolution. Instead, it holds the viewer in a moment of transition \u2014 between immersion and emergence, between what disappears and what stubbornly remains.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n - Ritual Procession:<\/strong> Children and adults parade the effigy, which is often dressed in white, through the village before throwing it into a river, lake, or pond.<\/span><\/li>\n
![\"Henryk](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/89\/OskarKolberg%28photo%29.png\/250px-OskarKolberg%28photo%29.png\")
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<\/a>![](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/5\/56\/Suka_bilgorajska.jpg\/250px-Suka_bilgorajska.jpg\")
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