Magda Bielesz

The basis of the work is the fear of swimming, resulting from the childhood memories of the artist, who got into difficulty while swimming as a child. The fear triggered by this experience became a source of fascination. The critical moment from her childhood helped Bielesz to recognize her own limitations or, to put it differently, the liberated psychophysical state has become a barrier that the artist cannot overcome. To overcome this trauma, she transfers an old memory into the realm of art and attempts to overcome her inhibitions. She performs a subversive procedure: instead of applying for a swimming card, in her dreams she is a teacher assessing the swimming skills of others. Bielesz relocates real-life experiences to the world of fiction, which shifts the barrier of fear and allows her to freely construct or change roles, possible only in the area of her own projections. Thus, she is able to reduce her fear to a level where her own limitations are tamed and, thanks to art, become less destructive. The fear of swimming is substituted by the game undertaken by the artist, which, although it concerns the sphere of dreams, has the power to influence reality.

• Object type:
  a cotton pillow case with a one-sided silk-screen print; swimming card
• Year:
  2002
• Dimensions:
  30 × 30 cm
• inv. no.:
  MNG/NOMUS/20/D/1-2
• Własność:
  Deposit of the City of Gdańsk, part of the Gdańsk Collection of Contemporary Art