The UW Polish Studies Endowment Committee present the lecture “Textile as Text: Gender and Social Issues in Polish Textile Art” by Dr. Agata Stronciwilk.

When attending the lecture, please come at 6:30 pm for the opening reception of the new generations’ Polish Poster exhibit, organized by Dr. Stronciwilk at the UW Allen Library North Lobby. The lecture starts at 7:15 pm.

Sewing, embroidery, and weaving have been stereotypically considered to be women’s activities, limited to domestic space. Contemporary Polish artists radically changed this notion with their revolutionary approach to textile art. The lecture will present disturbing, dark, and complex quasi-sculptural “abakans” by Magdalena Abakanowicz; Monika Drożyńska’s feminist rediscovery of embroidery and Małgorzata Mirga-Tas’ astonishing project at the Venice Biennale 2022, which attempted to decolonize the image of the Roma community. In each of those examples, the textile becomes a text – as it allows the artist to inscribe and re-write various identities, histories, and narratives. Weaving is understood not only as an artistic technique but as a metaphor for relational artistic practices – thin threads of art weave the patchwork social fabric.

Dr. Agata Stronciwilk is an art historian and cultural studies expert specializing in contemporary Polish art. In 2019 she received a PhD in cultural studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice, where she also graduated from Inter-faculty Individual Studies in Humanities, studying philosophy, art history, and culture. She is this year’s recipient of the Fulbright Slavic Award at the University of Washington.

This public lecture is at Thomson Hall, Room 101, at the UW Campus in Seattle.

More: UW PSEC, or please contact Dr. Stronciwilk

by RK