Karolina Sobel / If You're Okay, I'm Okay Too

Solo exhibition

From September 17 to 28, 2019, at the Šira Gallery, we present a solo exhibition by the Polish artist Karolina Sobel entitled If You Are Okay, I'm Good Too, realized as part of the cooperation between the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Zagreb and Organ Vida, as part of the program "ORGAN VIDA Season 1: Episode Love".

Karolina Sobel's exhibition "If You're Okay, I'm Okay" is based on research conducted in close collaboration with the Polish LGBTQ community in Warsaw. The project focuses on the problems of increasingly entrenched conservative views that lead to nationalism, homophobia and racism, and questions queer identities, while criticizing social norms in Polish society. Queer identities are reflected in intimate portraits of the community and intertwined with fragmentary depictions of Warsaw's urban landscapes.

In her research, Karolina asks several key questions: How subversive can a non-heteronormative lifestyle be in everyday life? What norms pripadnici_e young generations of LGBTQ people want to use to describe themselves? Is personal life still private and to what extent?

The project pays special attention to the concept of care, which is often considered vulnerable, fragile and quite demanding when it comes to visual representation. The photographer captures intimate moments in the private spaces of her subjects, which in turn depict free and subtle scenes in which the presence of care and tenderness, dedication and love is visible. The issue of care is also considered at the level of support and solidarity that exists between the artist and članova_ica community, and between themselves. The inner, private space of care is contrasted with vistas of the city without human presence. Scenes of the city are an important factor in depicting the repressive social and political conditions in today's Poland, which the artist further emphasizes through the use of repetitive sound backgrounds made up of the titles of articles collected from the Polish media. The aggressive, hostile rhetoric is an explicit illustration of the reality of today's Polish society.

We encounter Karolina's photographs happily. Instead of impersonal, strictly framed paintings, we are greeted by scenes printed on a soft, transparent natural fabric. They invite us to touch them, to move among them, and thus to experience the people depicted in them more intimately. An additional element of the project and a kind of finale of the exhibition is a short video in which we follow the artist's gaze in a trajectory along the female body of the performer in the middle of an almost cathartic purification ceremony. The non-narrative moving image does not bring a documentary commentary, but hints at the ritual of self-care.

Curators of the exhibition: Barbara Gregov, Klara Petrović, Luja Šimunović and Lea Vene
Supporters: City Office for Culture, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and Zagreb Tourist Board.
Partner: Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb

More about the program: ORGAN VIDA Season 01: Episode Love.

*The title is taken from the name of the event organized in Warsaw by the collective kem.

The exhibition at the Šira Gallery can be viewed during the Gallery's working hours (Mon-Fri: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., Saturdays: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.) until September 28, 2019.