EWA PARTUM, SELF-IDENTIFICATION, 1980 (1-10/10)
„In 1980 Ewa Partum joins an exhibition of photo collages and performance under common title „Self-Identification” at the Small Gallery ZPAF in Warsaw. The artist performs naked on the exhibited works in various places of Warsaw: in everyday surroundings, on crossroads, among the passersby, in front of a police woman.
Some photos/collages could not be shown due to censorship, such as the photo of the naked artist in front of a governmental building. Opening of the exhibition was threatened by conviction of pornography and nihilism. Usual passersby reacted with fury: „We are not in Africa”. Standing naked in front of the audience, Ewa Partum reads the text of „Self-Identification” and declares that she shall perform naked in her art until the position of women on the art market and in museums achieves the same prestige, as the position of male artists. During the varnishing exhibition and later a 16mm documentary video was made, shot as a diploma thesis by Ryszard Brylski (…) The „Self-Identification” catalogue was published next year upon winning over difficulties with censorship, when the Solidarity movement starts to have an impact on weakening political bans in Poland”.
[Ewa Partum 1965-2001. Polish edition of the texts in the catalogue: EWA PARTUM 1965-2001. Badischer Kunstverein Karlsruhe. National Museum in Warsaw, 2006]
Photos from Mała Galeria ZPAF performance were taken by Marek Grygiel.
Courtesy of Artum Fundacja Ewa Partum Museum.
