MARIA

Polish artist Iwona Ogrodzka offers a 2019 video vignette into the life of hers and her grandma's village, full of spring, gardening, gatherings and flashlight trips after dark, and uses it as a backdrop for the story of brave Maria who joined a rebellion.
maria_uvodka2

Words by the author: What does caring for a family mean? And when is the right time to start a revolution? Is it responsible to take such a risk when you are a woman, mother, peasant? Maria is the result of one year’s work documenting the lives of the inhabitants of my home village. Collected materials: recordings, conversations, and notes were used to create a biography of Maria, a fictional heroine who, sensing the impending threat, joins the uprising. The story suspended in an unspecified place and time is an attempt to supplement the history of Łukowica with a biography of a peasant who opposes the conformism in her immediate environment, decides to fight for a better future and in the name of this fight, leaves her children.

Snímek obrazovky 2020-03-22 v 18.06.12

BIO / IWONA OGRODZKA was born in 1991. She lives and works in Wrocław, Poland. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Poland. In the academic year of 2013/14, she was on a scholarship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vilnius. She’s also a PhD candidate at the Doctoral School of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw. She works in the field of new media art, installation, and painting. As of now, she works as the curator at the MD_S Gallery in Wroclaw (2015-2016) and is a co-founder and a member of an art collective Wykwitex. Since 2019, she’s been a member of the WHY QUIT initiative.

Maria was produced with support from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.

Video & Text / Iwona Ogrodzka

Snímek obrazovky 2020-03-22 v 18.09.29
Did you like it?
Share it with your friends

You may also like

IV.

Following up on our last year’s Family Business editorial from Hotel Krystal, SWARM MAG today releases its accompanying video, IV. Along with our three previous clips it presents our visual identity, this time in the form of a peek at the usual workday of a secret occultist troupe of office workers at their 9-to-5, figuring out how to make a profit off a non-profit magazine.
“A duck quack sample? Yes.” Singular singer and songwriter Terra sat down with Swarm to talk her (and Kewu's) new album, fashion as big part of her artistic expression, how algorithmic “dopamine chase” forces artists into exaggerated and grotesque social media self-promotion, and more.
Marie Deboissy’s self-professed love for caravans and the outdoors shows in her gentle, subtle paintings. The artist uses trailer park settings to explore themes of childhood and adolescence, a period when experience is intensified and imprinted into innocent souls, defining them irreversibly for all time. Join us today on this trip with Marie to learn about her creative approach and influences.
The Berlin-based Tabitha Swanson has tried and mastered her hand in all things design, spanning the creation of 3D animations, user experiences, and fashion. Join us today in exploring her insider knowledge from the industry and creative process, accompanied by her mesmerizing VR animations.