O, LITTLE BIRD Marta Hryniuk 27 VII 2017 – 17 IX 2017 Gdańsk City Gallery CURATORS Gabriela Warzycka-Tutak

Metaphysical Seeker

Being able to enquire – means: Being able to wait, even for a lifetime.

Martin Heidegger, Being and Time

Dead birds were thought to foretell the death of someone in the house. This sentence bears reference to folk sayings and traditions of conveying stories, while at the same time it shifts us to the territory of the past, to a magic place where interpretation becomes of key importance. The saying refers to an ill omen – the death of a loved one.

Time reveals yet another act – it smoothly takes us on a journey through a long corridor and a room illuminated with strong light. As we accompany the camera, both the external and internal space becomes perceptible. Unicoloured and devastated by time, the place of the corridor immersed in murk situates us in a transitional zone. From a dark passage the image shifts us to an area of brightness. The eye of the camera positions itself in a luminous interior. Pulled down, the roller blinds still allow rays of light inside; a decorative transparent material that slightly descends on the windowsill evokes a phantom presence.

The images are accompanied by a song-lullaby. A hypnotic female voice recites and sings in Polish and English, enfolding us and at the same time taking us to a different dimension. The layers of sound overlap, thus building a tension between two languages.

It seems that the voice plays the role of a self-translator. The piece is seductive, the steady rhythm and melody bring back to live the memories of sinless time.

O, Little Bird is a poetic story about every one of us, embedded by the author between the past and the future. It is a tracker that takes position in the shadow, finds isolation from noise, and at the same time sharpens the vision, which offers the possibility to notice more.

The exhibition addresses the sphere of human feelings and subconsciousness, it is embedded in a space in which remote moments become merged by the language of dreams. Hryniuk brings words to life and clothes them, she grasps the viewer’s body beyond the verbal level of perception. The question of time, which the artist addresses in her work, will become developed in the space of the exhibition.

PRESS Footnotes on Art K-mag Szum PHOTOGRAPHY Bogna Kociumbas GRAPHICS Barbara Dziedzic (courtesy of GGM) NEXT PROJECT→