Ala Savashevich

Unknown by Ala Savashevich is a monumental headless figure made of metal and felt – materials that are both raw and soft, evoking power but also corporeality and vulnerability. Created in 2021, the work recalls images of old monuments – historical figures that disappear from public space as dominant political narratives shift. The artist examines the mechanisms of collective erasure, posing the question: why does the gesture of breaking with the past so often begin with symbolic decapitation? Removing a figure’s head not only strips it of identity but also highlights the difficulty of confronting the past – unwanted, painful, suppressed. In this context, Unknown becomes a metaphor for collective amnesia and an attempt to capture the moment when history is dehumanized and memory reduced to incomplete forms.

• Object type:
  sculpture
• Year:
  2021
• Dimensions:
  193 x 110 x 184 cm
• inv. no.:
  MNG/NOMUS/80/D
• Własność:
  Gdansk Collection of Contemporary Art, a deposit of the City of Gdansk in the collection of NOMUS – New Art Museum, Branch of the National Museum in Gdansk