
Trejta
I am a Polish artist living and working in London.
In my practice, I am trying to experiment and achieve learning outcomes from adopting multiple materials and techniques (concrete, plaster, resin, clay, latex, silicone, animal blood, meat, non-narrative video, photography - digital, film, and alternative).
I am engaged in a widely understood nature morte motif. My oldest background before pursuing fine art is in archaeology and the history of art. The mentioned background made me engaged with motifs and roots of Latin culture and myths in general.
Recently I rediscovered clay as a highly meaningful material with a generous content of symbolism. Clay is a truly primordial and living material. In contemporary cultures, there is a functioning archetype of clay as a substitute for living matter,
Concerning my interest in the vanitas and abject motif, I used animal and human blood. Images of flies and worms in some videos work as a symbol of decay and death but with a twist: such as highlighting their contribution to ecological renewal, and as a metaphor for transformation and rebirth. In these works, I tried to emphasize the mortality and the imminent death of living creatures including homo sapiens.
My research and creation process is focused on phenomena of death (death as a culturally meaningful event, burial rituals), body/flesh, the biological aspect of life (decay, decomposition).
I have a degree in Archaeology and I used to work in the fields for a few years. I was working on necropoles sites. Work on archaeological sites with skeleton burials (eg. burials of political prisoners from Stalinist times in Poland, executed by a shot in the back of a head; 17-century cemetery in central London); observations of the process of decay of bones and soft tissue; bones disease had had an impact on my art practice.
My Archaeology background also led me to my enthusiasm for exploring clay as a material. Clay/ceramics is always present on archaeological sites. Very often dating is based on ceramic sherds. Ceramics is always everywhere in our contemporary times. It is in the bricks of a wall, pavements, toilets, toothpaste, make-up, medicines.
I choose clay because of its symbolic aspect. It is a material used to create a human according to many myths from various cultures (e.g. Golem). Also, the fact that fire (one of four elements) can change clay on a chemical level is rather symbolic. Clay can in fact count also as one of the four elements (Earth).
Education
2017-2021
MA Fine Art, Royal College of Art, London UK
2014-2017
BA Mixed Media Fine Art, Westminster University, London UK
2013-2014
2014 Fine Art Foundation Course, East London University, London UK
Exhibitions
2021
RCA Graduate Show. Cromwell Place, London
2021
Stories, PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
Housekeeping, Jeannie Avent Gallery, London
2019
Public Spheres Performance Night, RCA, London
2018
Liverpool Biennial Fringe, Liverpool
Incognito at Art Number 23, London
WIP Show RCA, London
2017
University of Westminster Degree Show, Ambika P3, London
2016
Better Something Than Nothing, Westminster University Student Show, London 2015
Paratissima, Skopje, Macedonia
2014
East London University Show, London
Tammann Gallery Exhibition
Collabs
2018
Partisan Social Club, Beaconsfield Gallery, London
2015
CoLab Artist Residence, Rost AIR, Norway