A Place in the Heart

A place in the heart is a place which is very dear, a place to which one returns on every occasion, or a place where one remains against all odds and against good reason. It seems that it does not matter whether such a place is in the centre or in the peripheries; whether it is an area of open possibilities or perhaps of great difficulties. It often happens that in such a place in the heart, especially if we mean a place in the emotional sense and not a physical or geographical location, there are opposite forces clashing. On the one hand, it gives us power to act, on the other though – it constrains us. The place is thus a territory of freedom and a territory of enslavement at the same time.

The essence of such a place in the heart is well presented by the work by Oskar Dawicki. The artist used dozens of bird cages to build one huge cage, snugly filling a gallery space. The feeling of claustrophobia is inevitable, not only because of the looming structure but also because of the limited space available to the viewers. They are practically forced to push their way through the narrow passage between the walls of the gallery and the sides of the cage which encloses the place in the heart from the title. Dawicki’s work has been constructed from identical, immaculately white cages imported from China. Their sterile character makes the dead bird lying on the floor paradoxically the most alive element of the whole installation. It is the only piece that has an individual character and a specific inner warmth. On the other hand, it is the only victim of enslavement – a most painful one, at that.

Oskar Dawicki’s work is about inner freedom. The lack of freedom is identified here by the absence of life. No matter how big the cage, how clean or luxurious, how spacious so as to spread one’s wings – it still allows no freedom or opportunities. In this context, the place in the heart becomes a place of oppression which severely conditions different limitations. The work is extremely pessimistic. Whilst a place in the heart evokes associations with something that gives one the energy to fight the odds, this Place in the Heart is wrought with limitations and difficulties.

Izabela Kopania

Text published in the book by Izabela Kopania „Open Set. Works from Kolekcja II of Galeria Arsenał in Białystok and Podlaskie Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych”, Białystok 2012