Mandorla Art Award

The Golden Rule, 2021

Found tablecloth, hand-embroidered with Polish proverb and folk symbols for hospitality, kindness and love, hand-made lace. 125 x 150 cm.

Gość w dom, Bóg w dom (guest in the house equals God in the house) is an old Polish proverb. It orders us to serve those who cross our threshold and make them feel at home. It tells us to open our homes to many different people, to tolerate and accept different ways of thinking and acting. It’s easy to help our own, when it’s convenient, or when we expect something in return. The trick is to do no wrong and to help 'the other.' These lessons seem forgotten today. We see it in the rejection and treatment of refugees. We see it in the othering of those who don’t look, speak, think, pray, love, live like we do. We see it in our refusal to accept them in our midsts.

Highly Commended Award.

Looking heaven in the eye, 2024

Found textiles, hand-embroidered with Ukrainian motifs and quotes by Jaiya John and Cole Arthur Riley; hand-made artificial olives.

My artistic practice is grounded in my personal story and the culture of the land I’m from. It explores concepts of memory, identity and belonging as a way of understanding who I am and my place in the world.

I have never made political work before. Even though I’m very interested in politics and well-informed, I have always felt incompetent. I felt that I lack the necessary language to express my thoughts in an eloquent and intelligent way that does justice to the seriousness of the issues. I still feel that way. But I can’t ignore what we’re witnessing. Have we gone crazy? 

I’ve been shocked for months and I refuse to stop being unsettled by current events and what they say about us. How is the world still turning? 

My heart is breaking. 

How will we recover from this?

Not selected for the exhibition.