Curatorial text (EN)

Kuratorischer Text (DE)

Natalia LL is one of the first artists in Poland to create feminist works. Since the 1960s, she has been fighting in her works for the emancipation of women, erotic freedom, and the liberation of the female body from the role of a passive, male gaze object. Her artistic creation was a courageous attempt to denounce traditional values. Because even though the equality of women was promoted in socialist countries, the reality was different. Nakedness was considered in socialist countries as both an authority and system critical gesture and as resistance against the prevailing social norms and conservative Catholicism. Against this background, one of her works is currently on display at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin as part of the exhibition “Test of Strength: Art between Politics and Society. Collection of the National Gallery 1945–2000” in the chapter “Liberation of the Body,” among other feminist artists from the West (including Martha Rosler, Rebecca Horn, Valie EXPORT, Hannah Wilke), Japan (Yoko Ono), or the so-called former Eastern Bloc (including Cornelia Schleime, Ewa Partum, Marina Abramović).