Becoming a body of water was a group exhibition, showcasing works by UK-based, East-Central European women artists. The show explored the social experience of being and becoming a CEE migrant woman through notions of adaptability, resilience, self-exploration, and connection with surroundings and the natural world.
The exhibition is inspired by the concept of hydrofeminism, developed by a cultural scholar and writer Astrida Neimanis. Neimanis’ writing and research focus on the cultural, social and political relationships between aquatic environments and Earth’s inhabitants, whose bodies are built primarily from water. Neimanis calls for a reevaluation of systems of power and responsibility, and advocates for creating sustainable bonds within the environment and between humans, based on care, trust and empathy.
In the Western art history, water has often been a symbol of transformation, change or unpredictability. It is ever-flowing and can take any course, depending on the circumstances and the vessel it inhabits. The exhibition revised the ideas of fluidity, adaptability and empathy concerning the East-Central European women artists' migration experiences.
Acceptance of change is a crucial element of the process of socialisation in a new environment, which eventually becomes home. We are ever-becoming, questioning our forms or essences as something fixed, solid and rigid. This fluidity becomes a tool of one’s resilience and agency.
Showcased works delved into fluidity on the symbolic level, through the explorations of self or the environment, but also on the literal level, by experimenting with textures, and natural materials, playing with the idea of preserving the elusive. The exhibition celebrates the resilience of CEE migrant women and provides a platform for their work and expression, which continues to be underrepresented in the contemporary art sector in the UK.
Participating artists: Natalia Janula, Maja A. Ngom, Miroslava Vecerova, Ana Milenkovic, Katia Kesic, Anna Kostritskaya, Noemi S. Conan
