PUSH&PULL. XX1 Gallery, Warsaw 2024
PUSH&PULL
Matter is fragile. It yields to the destructive force of external factors: time, light, footsteps. They quietly disperse its initial resistance, subtly eroding its strength, expressive power, and singular character. At first, the process is almost impossible to perceive—its violence discreet, its invasion nearly invisible. That is precisely how it works: what causes the greatest damage often cannot be seen.
The women appearing on chiffon and paper gradually become spectral. Living bodies dissolve into phantom-like figures. Representation nervously slips into darkness and abstraction, leaving only faint traces of a once vivid presence to testify to a colorful existence before disintegration.
These women are diminished, gradually reduced to the constrained role of victims caught in narcissistic dynamics. Crossing every boundary of dignity, they are compelled to give more and more of themselves—yet it is never enough. Not long ago, they would never have imagined becoming someone like this. Today, they scarcely recognize themselves. They long for the people they once were: whole, tangible, alive. Yet with every passing minute, every ray of light, every step across the surface, they continue to disappear. What initially seemed intoxicating, caring, and incomparable gradually reveals itself as destructive, poisonous, cold, and annihilating.
The transformation of the relationship is almost impossible to detect. It unfolds imperceptibly. And yet, this was never meant to happen. Time promised attention. Sunlight promised tenderness. Footsteps promised intimacy and affection. The promise concealed the poison.
Among the many forms of human cruelty, this one ranks among the most devastating, undermining the very foundations of trust and dignity. It promises only to deceive; it seduces only to exploit; it attracts only to reject. Out of the wounds inflicted by such relationships, a new language has emerged—a kind of Esperanto for describing psychological abuse.
Push and pull is only one among many tactics used to produce the living dead—more often women than men, according to both statistics and systemic realities. The vocabulary of coercive control continues to expand: *love bombing, gaslighting, silent treatment, guilt tripping, revenge seeking, hoovering, smear campaign, playing the victim, triangulation,* and *baiting.*
In her work, Izabela Chamczyk translates this emerging language into the material of art. She renders the invisible visible and gives tangible form to what is otherwise difficult to grasp. She speaks openly about what usually unfolds in silence, bringing hidden mechanisms into public view and addressing the gaps left by social and educational neglect. In doing so, she equips both herself and her audience with a heightened awareness capable of resisting predatory forms of manipulation.
The time for such awareness is long overdue.
How many of us, looking into these abstractions, will recognize ourselves?
Marta Popławska
phot.: Ignacy Skwarcan, Magdalena Kubanek, Marzena Majcher
