The first installment of Sharon Lockhart's individual exhibition, Milena Milena, took place a year ago in Ujazdowski Castle. The presented works were inspired by the fate of a Polish teenager – Milena, who the artist met whilst filming “Podwórka” (“Backyards”) in Łódź in 2009. The film shows the lives of children who spend time in the backyards of Łódź. These are isolated from the bustle of the street - spaces for having fun. On the other hand, these areas are often degraded, and sometimes dangerous.
The exhibition at Bonniers Konsthall also features a monumental stained glass portrait of Milena made by Piotr Ostrowski. Stockholm’s display also refers to Janusz Korczak's legacy.
Lockhart is one of the artists who turned to portraying everyday life in the 90s and quickly began to draw inspiration from the world of film. In her work, the artist uses methods which border on anthropology, ethnology, film and documents. Two highly autobiographical works open and close the exhibition in the Bonniers gallery. The first is the film Double Tide, recorded in Maine, USA, where Lockhart grew up; the second is a rarely-shown series called Untitled Studies, which consists of pictures of her mother.
The exhibition is accompanied by events, including conversations with the artist herself and curators Adam Budak and Camilla Larsson (16.04), a discussion on “Children in culture on their own terms” (7.05), inspired by the pedagogical thinking of Janusz Korczak. The legendary Swedish playwright and director Suzanne Osten, and researcher of children's culture Catharina Hällström will participate in the event.
Sharon Lockhart (born in 1964) is an American artist and filmmaker. She is one of the most distinctive figures of the contemporary art scene. She studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and the San Francisco Art Institute. She implemented and presented projects in the United States, Europe and Japan. Her works can be found, among others, at Eli Broad Family Foundation in Los Angeles, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Tate Modern in London, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. She teaches at the Roski School of Art and Design at the University of California, and lives and works in Los Angeles. The first exhibition of the Milena, Milena series took place in Poland in 2013 at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Ujazdowski Castle.
The third version of the exhibition "Milena, Milena" is planned to be shown in Lucerne.
The Polish Institute in Stockholm is the partner of the project.
Sharon Lockhart “Milena, Milena”
16th April – 29th June 2014
Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm
Curators: Adam Budak, Camilla Larsson
Sources: The Polish Institute in Stockholm, Bonniers Konsthall, CSW Ujazdowski Castle, ed. AS, 16.04.2014, translated: Katarzyna Maksimiuk, 17.04.2014