Polish artist WIOLETTA KULEWSKA speaks with Lara Zammit about her works currently on display at Valletta Contemporary replete with symbolic meaning.
The Feather Collector, an exhibition of works by Polish artist Wioletta Kulewska curated by Anna Stec currently on display at Valletta Contemporary, features the artist’s latest series of works created during an artist residency at the Pedvāle Museum and Sculpture Park in Latvia last year.
Kulewska describes these works as a fusion of visual ideas and a reflection on the notions of time, identity and spirituality, along with the significance of myths and rituals in the contemporary world, in which there is a need to search for a new spirituality.
Speaking to Times of Malta on how her paintings contend with the notion of spirituality and the sacred, the artist said her works are deeply rooted in mythology, particularly that of ancient Baltic people who searched for answers to fundamental questions, primarily in the world of nature, which they considered sacred.
“These ancient people attached special importance to the cult of fire and identified the most important deities with the forces of nature,” said the artist.
'Five Feathers' by Wioletta Kulewska“These old traditions are still cultivated in some parts of Latvia – there is a significant growth of ancient religion and neopaganism movement in Baltic region.”
Despite this ancient spiritual connection with nature, Kulewska maintains that the link between contemporary people and nature is severed.
“The climate crisis, wildlife emergencies and even violent wars all show that the existing relationship between people and nature is broken. There is a deep need for understanding and a need for a change in our society,” she declared.
Kulewska’s work, apart from its formal qualities, is replete with symbolic meaning. An instance of this in her paintings comes in the form of representations of feathers juxtaposed with ultramarine blue, which may indicate references to the history of ancient art, where blue symbolises the sphere of the sacred.
Feathers are a running motif throughout the exhibition.“It can represent infinity, immaterial, afterlife and purity. French artist Yves Klein identified blue with elusiveness and intangibility, emptiness and freedom. He was thinking of surviving spiritually, and that his artwork would be more complete,” she explained.
“My paintings are a vocabulary of gestures and motifs, enigmatic, mysterious and open to interpretation. I want them to reflect on the mystery of life and the mystery of our existence. Painting itself is a symbolic and mythical activity.” Asked to elaborate on how her paintings also link particularly to archetypal notions of the feminine, the artist first expressed that she is interested in ancient cultures and conducts considerable research on painting, symbolism, mysticism, mythology and pagan religions.
The relationship between people and nature is broken
“During my research, I came across Marija Gimbutas, a Lithuanian-born archaeologist, who argued that ‘the world was at peace when god was a woman’. According to Gimbutas, men and women of the ancient world lived in harmony. Women ran the temples, and in so doing held prominent positions, while men performed physical chores such as hunting, building and navigating.
“The deities these people worshipped were overwhelmingly female, and their values, emphasising nonviolence and reverence for nature, came from the feminine realm. It was marauding Indo-Europeans, the forerunners of Western civilisation, who destroyed these societies,” she maintained.
Ancient female figurines discovered during Kulewska’s travels also appear in her paintings and watercolour studies, particularly due to her wish to reconstruct the idea of a goddess.
“The ancient civilisations used to live in unity with all nature. They glorified natural forces, worshipping and chanting for them. Religion played an enormous role in the past, and the temple was sort of a focus of life. The most beautiful artefacts were produced for the temple. Goddesses played the primary role of queens and mothers, and not the secondary role of wives or lovers to male deities,” she said.
The feather motif is one of the main elements that appears in the artist’s latest series of works presented at Valletta Contemporary. She explained that bird feathers are a natural miracle and can be found in the folklore, religion and art of many distant civilisations.
“The feather motif is a common denominator of my explorations of aesthetics and spirituality, and it suggests a reference to an otherworldly universe. In many cultures, feathers represent a connection to spiritual realms. Coming from birds, feathers symbolise freedom, both mental and physical, from the bounds of the earth.
Other elements like small artefacts, shells, bones or twigs can be also found on subsequent canvases, installations, and colourful, totem-like objects presented as a part of The Feather Collector exhibition. The artist said these afterimages of experience and inspiration, brought back from various journeys, stem from the peculiar assortment of items gathered by the eponymous ‘collector’.
“As an artist, I make direct use of my collections for paintings, research and study purposes – sometimes incorporating individual items into my work. My artistic practice thus combines elements at the intersection of philosophy, archaeology and cultural anthropology,” she concluded.
The Feather Collector is running at Valletta Contemporary until April 16.