Slow Water is First to Harden
2021
Glass, aluminum, hand-print, graphite
The idea arose from reflections on the body's ability to express the reality of external influence, the traces of which turn out to be both evidence of the events that took place and objects that contain these events within themselves.
As a result of relationships with the environment, the body acquires plasticity as the ability to undergo change, as well as to resist negative internal processes. Both of these plasticity properties combine to appeal to the experience of people with osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetically determined collagen deficiency that makes bones prone to severe injury from any careless movement. Faced with a constant threat and retaining plasticity become for them a daily routine and survival practice. As a result of fractures and the implantation of metal pins in the bones, their bodies are transformed, changing their shape, losing their original capabilities, or gaining new mobility and resilience.
Organized as a half-empty space for contemplation, the installation invites the viewer to witness a frozen catastrophe. Outwardly abstract, it has a documentary nature. The key element, the glass sculptures, are exact casts of the body parts of people with osteogenesis imperfecta. Their shape and texture with traces of impact on the skin (glass surface) retain the results of internal transformations that have occurred. The impacts themselves and the events preceding them remain invisible to the viewer. Communication with them is made through photographs and fragments of phrases that record past events or feelings of the future.

This project was realized in collaboration with the nonprofit charitable organization 'Hrupkie Ludi' helping people with osteogenesis imperfecta.