<em>All the Missiles Are One Missile</em> Revisited: Dazzle in the Work of Zofia Kulik

This essay revisits one of Polish artist Zofia Kulik’s most important ‘photocarpets’, produced in a moment of hope, retrospection yet continuing war in 1993; seen by an international public in 1997. Visually, its composition is dominated by late Soviet sculptures symbolising Mother Russia and milita...

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Glavni avtor: Sarah Wilson
Format: Article
Jezik:English
Izdano: MDPI AG 2022-11-01
Serija:Arts
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Online dostop:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/11/6/116
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author Sarah Wilson
author_facet Sarah Wilson
author_sort Sarah Wilson
collection DOAJ
description This essay revisits one of Polish artist Zofia Kulik’s most important ‘photocarpets’, produced in a moment of hope, retrospection yet continuing war in 1993; seen by an international public in 1997. Visually, its composition is dominated by late Soviet sculptures symbolising Mother Russia and military aggression, yet the composition, ‘kilim-like’, with an additional reference to Polish Catholicism, involves bilateral and rotational symmetries which undermine significations of power and might with various other symbols: bodies, naked or draped, and Polish TV screenshots from both the military and entertainment worlds. ‘Dazzle’, the camouflage-related military term is also related to tears and (repressed) mourning. The female artist’s attitude to gender is crucial. The piece is both a ‘revisualisation’ and ‘rewriting’, relating both to the author’s previous texts on the artist from 1999 and 2001, and Kulik’s own rediscovery of her Ukrainian heritage, which reframes her own vision and understanding of the piece in 2022.
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spelling doaj.art-44740492a0434fc6b73646f7de2a6c782023-11-24T13:09:22ZengMDPI AGArts2076-07522022-11-0111611610.3390/arts11060116<em>All the Missiles Are One Missile</em> Revisited: Dazzle in the Work of Zofia KulikSarah Wilson0Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, The Courtauld, University of London, London WC1E 9EW, UKThis essay revisits one of Polish artist Zofia Kulik’s most important ‘photocarpets’, produced in a moment of hope, retrospection yet continuing war in 1993; seen by an international public in 1997. Visually, its composition is dominated by late Soviet sculptures symbolising Mother Russia and military aggression, yet the composition, ‘kilim-like’, with an additional reference to Polish Catholicism, involves bilateral and rotational symmetries which undermine significations of power and might with various other symbols: bodies, naked or draped, and Polish TV screenshots from both the military and entertainment worlds. ‘Dazzle’, the camouflage-related military term is also related to tears and (repressed) mourning. The female artist’s attitude to gender is crucial. The piece is both a ‘revisualisation’ and ‘rewriting’, relating both to the author’s previous texts on the artist from 1999 and 2001, and Kulik’s own rediscovery of her Ukrainian heritage, which reframes her own vision and understanding of the piece in 2022.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/11/6/116dazzlekilimmissilemourningphotocarpetpower
spellingShingle Sarah Wilson
<em>All the Missiles Are One Missile</em> Revisited: Dazzle in the Work of Zofia Kulik
Arts
dazzle
kilim
missile
mourning
photocarpet
power
title <em>All the Missiles Are One Missile</em> Revisited: Dazzle in the Work of Zofia Kulik
title_full <em>All the Missiles Are One Missile</em> Revisited: Dazzle in the Work of Zofia Kulik
title_fullStr <em>All the Missiles Are One Missile</em> Revisited: Dazzle in the Work of Zofia Kulik
title_full_unstemmed <em>All the Missiles Are One Missile</em> Revisited: Dazzle in the Work of Zofia Kulik
title_short <em>All the Missiles Are One Missile</em> Revisited: Dazzle in the Work of Zofia Kulik
title_sort em all the missiles are one missile em revisited dazzle in the work of zofia kulik
topic dazzle
kilim
missile
mourning
photocarpet
power
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/11/6/116
work_keys_str_mv AT sarahwilson emallthemissilesareonemissileemrevisiteddazzleintheworkofzofiakulik