Filmoteka Muzeum

In Onone Alicja Żebrowska confronts the viewer with a non-narrative sequence of hypnotic visions of the carefree existence of an androgynous being – hermaphrodite suspended between the sexes (hence the title Onone , a compound of Polish male, female and neutral personal pronouns, “on”, “ona” and “ono”, respectively).

The artist creates the body Onone with attention to every detail, though she doesn’t seem to aim at a science-fiction like image of the real. Żebrowska shifts accents to artificiality. She takes the carefree being in inverted commas, leaving no doubt that its queer body is a result of artificial creation. Similarly to the things that surround her, e.g. the mysterious machine pumping water through thin pipes connected to Onone’s body and to apples glued to the bank of the stream.

The person created by Żebrowska is presented in idyllic location – green meadow by the stream, dotted with limestone – which becomes a space of visions and fantasies; where the body, nature and technique merge into one in the course of the ongoing flows. The film forms part of a broader photographic-film project Onone – World after the World contributed by Żebrowska in 1995. References: H. Bohme, A Journey into the Body and Beyond. The Art of Alicja Żebrowska, www.onone.art.pl.
 

(ŁM)