Zuzanna Salamon

The artist: "My current studio practice is strongly connected to my experience as an immigrant. The metaphors and symbols that appear in my works come from my own experience of longing for a homeland and Slavic culture which consists of rituals involving worshipping the elemental grandeur of nature. I started to be more interested in Polish culture, once I found myself living in a different country. Thanks to home sickness I started researching more about the culture where I come from, but also about my own roots. The drawing is inspired by the old traditional petit coat which I found recently in my family home and which was hand-embroidered by my great-grandmother. With the hairstyle, I also wanted to refer to Slavic culture and present myself as part of this tradition. The petit coat is full of creases as it was folded and hidden in the wardrobe for many years, but I found it quite symbolic and poetic. Through this drawing, I was exploring my connection to home, but also my experience of living and understanding a foreign country, so I might say it can be considered as a bit of a self-portrait."