“Those who sows the wind, reaps the whirlwind.”
The exhibition Seeds by Austrian artist Ines Doujak speaks about sowing and reaping, both literally and figuratively.
The central work of the exhibition, Landscape Painting (2021–present), is a collection
of hundreds of plant seeds that the artist presents to us in the form of a spatial
installation that we can literally perceive as an extension of the genre of landscape
painting (a landscape created by layering hollowed-out pumpkins full of seeds of
various colors). These seeds are also enclosed in transparent crates with female
names and Latin names. In this way, Doujak transforms scientific classification
(which, in the line of Carl von Linné, the founder of “modern taxonomy,” can be
perceived as the domain of the enlightenment reason embodied by white man) by
dedicating each seed to prominent female figures (sometimes collectives or
movements) across history and the present. “Women” are defined here as a political
category including all those who suffer under the material conditions that have
historically been attributed to women, such as trans and non-binary people, intersex
and queer people.
An integral part of the work is the catalogue of all these fascinating
and often provocative and non-conformist figures, which the artist continuously adds
to. It now has 154 entries and was translated into Czech as part of this exhibition in
Brno. The audience can sit on a Hollywood swing and read short but captivating
biographies, which include, in addition to famous personalities and celebrities, figures
in our Central European context (and more broadly in the context of the so-called
global North) unknown, but all the more fascinating. As a common thread, a number
of the presented stories speak of the fight for the right to land and livelihood, support
for local communities and the rights of indigenous peoples, of conscious connection
of human with non-human nature and awareness of the urgent need for its
protection. Landscape Painting, like Ines Doujak’s work as a whole, carries an
intense intersectional imperative of rejecting sexism, racism, neocolonialism and
extractivism.
The ethos of resistance, rebellion and civil disobedience in the exhibition is reinforced
by the display of proclamatory flags and, in particular, the recent sculpture Walking
Cemetery (2024). A three-meter high monument placed as a disturbing colossus right
at the entrance to the exhibition, depicts a mother about to devour her child. Her work
uniform is a reminder of class inequalities that we should not forget within the
framework of an intersectional approach. The extreme scene of the cannibal mother
may be shocking and even offensive to many people, but it effectively concentrates
serious topics such as reproductive labor and reproductive justice, the concern for
livelihood that so often falls on mothers (especially single mothers) in contrast to the
statistics of malnutrition, which globally concern women more, and the sculpture also
reminds us about repressive gender stereotypes such as care and beauty.
The exhibition, which opens on the eve of International Women's Day, is a tribute to
all those who, in an environment of patriarchal dominance, resist marginalization,
repression, but often even death. The eloquent symbol of a clenched fist that flared
up during the opening, is a reminder of how much is at stake here.
Curator: Tereza Jindrová
Production: Ondřej Houšťava a Zuzana Šrámková
Graphic design: Šárka Blažková and Petra Kněžek
PR: Kristýna Sudková
Public program: Nikola Ludlová and SdruŽeny
Instalation: Matěj, Bára