Andrzej Karmasz

Self-portrait. Geisha II is part of a series entitled Hybrydy [Hybrids], inspired by the experience he gained while studying at Joshibi University of Art and Design in Japan. The stay at this all-female school, Japan’s oldest private art college, had a strong influence on artist’s work.  Karmasz refers to unique artistic transgressions, and is interested in giving up personal cultural and linguistic features, as well as social and ethnic experiences to which we are accustomed and thanks to which we feel safe, and instead entering a different, new and unknown cultural sphere embedded in different realities.

The process of the feminization of the male body, that socially and culturally broadens the boundaries of gender identity dependent on geographic, historical and political conditions, is equally important here.

The video work Silence of Taming depicts the gradual feminization of the male body. Shot in 2005, the film is an intimate video documentation of the preparations and the moment of transformation, moving beyond the existing identity and cultural belonging. The final metamorphosis was based on an in-depth study of Japanese culture and customs, everyday meetings and conversations, and subtle observations of rituals. It depicts the process of the artist’s transformation into a character with a completely different cultural experience. Karmasz always chooses to represent women, performing a visual transgression, deconstructing identity, and examining cultural changes and the fluidity of ethnic borders in the globalized world.