Panel Discussion: Katarzyna Perlak, 'Better a bare foot than none'

This in-conversation panel discussion will explore and unpack the recurring themes in Perlak’s practice, focussing in particular on the artist’s tender crafts series. Refreshments provided

Katarzyna Perlak’s tender crafts methodology, presented in her Gallery exhibition Better a bare foot than none, explores how heritage and traditional handwork practices can be re-imagined from contemporary feminist, queer and migrant perspectives. Perlak’s Pajaki sculptures are a material manifestation of Polish tradition. The paper chandeliers, also known as 'spiders', are hung to protect the home, and are historically crafted for Christian, pagan and folk celebrations. Considering the contradictions within problematic social movements in Poland, as well as her own longing for home, Perlak utilises the feeling of nostalgia to imagine new possibilities for the future.

Katarzyna Perlak’s exhibitions include Liverpool Biennial (2025); V&A Museum, London (2024); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2023); B3 Biennial of Moving Image, Frankfurt (2023); Brent Biennial, London (2022); Jerwood Arts, London (2021); Detroit Art Week (2019); BALTIC, Gateshead (2017); Diaspora Pavilion, 57th Venice Biennale (2017)

Marta Czyż is an art historian, independent curator and critic, living and working in Warsaw, Poland. Curator of the Polish Pavilion on the 60th International Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, her practice draws on archives and recent developments in art history to influence culture and social movements. Recent curatorial projects include: CCA Ujazdowski Castle and Zachęta – National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, BWA Zielona Góra; MOS Gorzów; and the National Museum in Szczecin. In 2020, she curated Contexts Festival of Ephemeral Arts, Sokołowsko and Youth Triennale at the Centre for Polish Sculpture, Orońsko.

Aleksandra Gajowy (she/her) is Assistant Professor in Modern and Contemporary Art in the School of Art History and Cultural Policy at University College Dublin, and Associate Director of the UCD Centre for Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies. She holds a PhD from Newcastle University (UK), which focused on body and queerness in Polish art since the 1970s. Her ongoing research focuses on queerness and lesbianism in Polish visual cultures since the nineteenth century, Central and Eastern European lesbian studies, and queer Jewishness in Poland. Her monograph on modern and contemporary lesbian art from Poland is under contract with Manchester University Press.

For further accessibility information please contact Learning + Public Engagement Curator Órla Goodwin.