Self-Identification – Ewa Partum | #photography & visual arts

In the spring of 1980, an exhibition by Ewa Partum titled Self-Identification (Samoidentyfikacja) opened at the Mała ZPAF Gallery by the Castle Square in Warsaw. The artist presented her series of photo collages showing her nude silhouette superimposed onto images of the cityscape.

They gave the impression that the artist was strolling naked among the Varsovians – ordinary, gloomy, weary people. In the photographs, her figure wandered down the main streets, crossed roads, joined queues outside grocery shops (a common sight in Poland back in the day). The most famous photograph from the series shows the artist face to face with a militia officer managing the traffic. Not all works from the cycle were displayed at the Gallery – some of them were censored, like the photographs in which Partum's figure was placed in front of Namiestnikowski Palace, which at the time served as the Council of State's headquarters (it currently functions as the Presidential Palace).

On the opening night, the artist staged a performance. Undressed, she read out a text titled Self-Identification (Samoidentyfikacja) and declared that she would continue to appear naked in public until the position of female artists within the art market and institutional framework becomes equal to that of their male colleagues. Partum also walked outside of the gallery for a brief moment. This is how the famous photograph of the artist next to wedding guests came about – the Mała Gallery ZPAF was located right next to the Civil Registry office.

During the opening, it seemed as though the artist walked out of her photographs to surprise her audience, whose members all of the sudden became aware of their dullness.
– Grzegorz Dziamski wrote.

Monograph of Works by Ewa Partum

Back in the People's Republic of Poland, nudity in art stood for something very different from what it does in contemporary Poland. The fact of getting rid of the protective layer of clothing alone was perceived as a critical gesture, through its opposition to the norms of the system and of the parochial society. The Eastern Bloc countries were governed by moral conservatism, which in Poland took a pious form. Censors were as keen on banning politically dubious texts and works as those that went against the cultural norms, however, the naked female body was more acceptable than male nudity (a standard proven by, for example, the popularity of the Polish Venus/Wenus polska exhibitions).

Partum's act of undressing was thus undeniably a sign of resistance – among others, against the society which encouraged discrimination of women, who were celebrated only on special occasions (such as Women's Day). The artist's statement at the opening showed that she treated nudity as an act of (self-)humiliation. By imposing it on herself, she pointed to the position assigned to women in a phallocentric world. When exposing her body, she also exposed the bare truth about the situation of female artists and women in general. But most of all, she wanted to be provocative.

At the time, Ewa Partum was one of the few Polish artists who openly manifested their feminist views and included them in their art.

During that time, the members of the close-knit avant-garde environment in Poland were convinced that art was free and didn't not work towards any ends; that even showcasing a certain issue attached a function to it and could potentially undermine it.
– she recalled.

The artist wanted, then, to introduce usefulness and gravity to her work. At the same time, she wanted to change the way of thinking about art that welcomed such properties. She explained on another occasion:

I wanted to institute feminist art as a current in such a way that would encourage women to be involved in it. That is why incorporating something as authentic as the body was essential.

Ewa Partum in front of the posters My Problem is a Problem of a Woman / Mój problem jest problemem kobiety, Warsaw, 1978, photo courtesy of Zachęta - National Gallery of Art

In 1980, she carried out a performance in Poznań, titled Women, Marriage is Against You (Kobiety, małżeństwo jest przeciwko wam), for which she put on a wedding dress and cut it up into small pieces, eventually revealing her naked body in front of the audience. Nudity in her works, then, expressed getting away from cultural stereotypes, the imposed behavioural patterns, and social paradigms. One year prior, she subjected her body to the process of characterization, or more precisely – ageing, in a protest against modern cosmetology and plastic surgery (she introduced the same theme in one of her earlier performances from 1974 – My Problem is a Problem of a Woman / Mój problem jest problemem kobiety). In the background, sounds from a tape recorder could be heard, including a text written by her:

A woman lives in a social structure that is strange to her. Its model was created by men and for men. A woman is capable of functioning within a structure she doesn't identify with on the condition that she masters the art of camouflage and discounts her own personality. […] The phenomenon of feminist art opens a new role for women; the possibility of self-fulfilment.

Architectures of Gender: Women and Contemporary Art in Poland

What is the relationship between self-fulfillment and self-identification? The titular self-identification is a prerequisite for self-fulfilment. It is the initial stage and a sine qua non condition. The artist seems to imply that in order to realize one's own goals, we first need to understand the limitations of our own position and get rid of them – do away with the camouflage. In the above-mentioned quote, she refers to body as something authentic – precisely because it is free of any camouflage. Self-identification is self-exploration, but also an awareness – a feminist one, of course.

Having reached this awareness, the artist stands face to face not just with the crowd of everyday people, but also with the state authorities of the Polish People's Republic. Hence the significance of the photomontage featuring the nude artist next to a female militia officer dressed in a uniform. These two women are as alike as they are different, as if they stood on two opposite sides of a barricade (naturally, nudity stands here for innocence). They also represent two visions of female liberation. Agata Araszkiewicz wrote:

The militia woman is an effect of the superficial equal rights discourse exercised by the PRL – she is a woman transported to the male system of power, dressed in a military costume and ridiculing the masculine gestures of controlling the communication (and transport) system. On one hand, she represents the achievements of women in the 20^th century, who are now able to pursue a career thus far reserved for men. Naturally, in a totalitarian system, they yet again treated as a mere decorum, a simulation of a liberal reality, within which they are true members of the military (though the question remains whether military ideals are feminine and feminist?). The nude artist becomes a nude woman in order to question the visual pornocratic system.

The PRL's envisioned women on tractors, just like in Wojciech Fangor's painting Figures. Equal work responsibilities by no means indicated a radical shift in social roles. The same held true for the anti-communist opposition, as contemporary theoretical texts show. It seemed as though this part of history lacked women altogether. In fact, in 1982 Ewa Partum paid a truly womanly tribute to the Solidarność movement in her Hommage à Solidarność.

Penn: The Women of Solidarity Have Yet To Be Appreciated

Embedded Work

Solidarity According to Women - Marta Dzido and Piotr Śliwowski

This combination of blatantly political, or even oppositional, themes, with feminist ones seems particularly interesting, revolutionary, as well as exceptional, especially in Poland. At that time, the opposition was closely connected to the ideals of the Catholic Church, its patriarchal models of patriotism, ethics, family, and women's position. Feminist claims were completely foreign to it. Ewa Partum thus blended two revolutions – one unveiling itself in front of her, and the other one – which she called for. This was a truly explosive mix, which the society was still unable to tolerate.

Agata Jakubowska noticed another peculiar mechanism:

Her [the artist's] feminism is not positive – it is rather confrontational. It doesn't sound like anything special if we consider it in the context of feminism, but that is because it matches the stereotypical visions of the movement's aims, allegedly concentrated on and limited to the gender struggle. […] For Partum, feminism largely comes down to actions that are focused on her own self and are strategic for building her own position, as opposed to female or feminine world.

So, the opinions on her work are to this day split.

Embedded video

NATALIA LL. Nudity and Feminism [video]

Ewa Partum
Self-Identification
Photo collage series
1980

Author: Karol Sienkiewicz, December 2010, transl. Ania Micińska, June 2015