BLURRING THE LINES
BLURRING THE LINES

Anna Gajewszky

In the search for Venus

EDITION

2021

school

Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design
Budapest, Hungary

Chasing Venus; an intimate series focusing on my own body, discovering womanhood and my relationship to both. My figure has always been more masculine, attenuated, making it harder to accept and own up to my femininity both as a teeneger and a young women. Additionally, at the age of 18, I was informed by doctors, conception and pregnancy would not be easily attainable for me. Then it sounded frightful and threatening and I didn’t know how to deal with it. Throughout the past couple years, I have tried to better cope with it all, accepting my condition and body. Chasing Venus presents my own acceptance, longing to once become ‘Venus’, a woman as well as a mother. As the life period draws nearer when I would begin to think about having a child, I began to research ancient mother illustrations in fine art. This led me to prehistoric representations of Venus and her iconic figure, that I have used to build into my series. There is plenty of academic literature and research material based on ancient statues, paintings depicting Venus. The general interpretation associated with Venus artifacts is its symbolism for female fertility, The Mighty Mother, The Source of Life. Some of these statues aren’t concerned with having much detail on their faces. They are similar to small spheres floating above an oversized torso, where all female organs concerned with reproduction and motherhood were usually over-emphasized. In my series, besides experiencing my womanhood and accepting my body, I illustrate an imaginary birth story, toying with the idea of motherhood. I use collages and painting in addition to give another layer to the series. I cut into my self portraits, I destroy the photograph as a gesture to show the pain and struggling it meant for me for so long. I use this method because I feel photography on it’s own can’t tell the whole story. I want my work to have a texture so when people look at it they really feel some kind of pain or discomfort.

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Anna Gajewszky

In the search for Venus

EDITION

2021

school

Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design
Budapest, Hungary

Chasing Venus; an intimate series focusing on my own body, discovering womanhood and my relationship to both. My figure has always been more masculine, attenuated, making it harder to accept and own up to my femininity both as a teeneger and a young women. Additionally, at the age of 18, I was informed by doctors, conception and pregnancy would not be easily attainable for me. Then it sounded frightful and threatening and I didn’t know how to deal with it. Throughout the past couple years, I have tried to better cope with it all, accepting my condition and body. Chasing Venus presents my own acceptance, longing to once become ‘Venus’, a woman as well as a mother. As the life period draws nearer when I would begin to think about having a child, I began to research ancient mother illustrations in fine art. This led me to prehistoric representations of Venus and her iconic figure, that I have used to build into my series. There is plenty of academic literature and research material based on ancient statues, paintings depicting Venus. The general interpretation associated with Venus artifacts is its symbolism for female fertility, The Mighty Mother, The Source of Life. Some of these statues aren’t concerned with having much detail on their faces. They are similar to small spheres floating above an oversized torso, where all female organs concerned with reproduction and motherhood were usually over-emphasized. In my series, besides experiencing my womanhood and accepting my body, I illustrate an imaginary birth story, toying with the idea of motherhood. I use collages and painting in addition to give another layer to the series. I cut into my self portraits, I destroy the photograph as a gesture to show the pain and struggling it meant for me for so long. I use this method because I feel photography on it’s own can’t tell the whole story. I want my work to have a texture so when people look at it they really feel some kind of pain or discomfort.

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