30 x 21 cm, embroidery, 2022
In her work, the artist tells women's stories using various artistic media. She is inspired by peculiar yet forgotten female figures from history - on which she sheds new, contemporary light through embroidery, silkscreen and printmaking.
Interview with the artist: https: //magazyn.onarte.pl/wpisy/wspolczesne-kroniki-kobiet-osobliwych-rozmowa-z-natasza-rogozinska/
More of the artist's work at https://onarte.pl/artysci/natasza-rogozinska-natopticum
The work is inspired by the figure of Elisabeth of Bavaria, known as Sisi, who accidentally caught the eye of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria. Cyk, before she knew it, was already unpacking her suitcases within the walls of Vienna's Hofburg Palace. Unfortunately, Sisi was not served by the Viennese aura, nor by her contacts with her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, who mustered her at every possible opportunity.
Sisi was convinced that her family was cursed, not only that - she saw her own fault in the disasters falling on her family. She blamed herself for the suicide of her son or the suspicious death of her only true friend, Louis II. Sisi may have been somewhat right about the curse - while waiting for a cruise steamer in Switzerland in 1898, she was suddenly attacked. An Italian anarchist plunged a file into her very heart, and the reason for the attack was rather mundane - the anarchist later said he wanted to kill any ruler, it didn't matter who exactly.
Elizabeth left behind something peculiar. Sisi Syndrome - a peculiar variety of depression, which manifests itself with characteristic energy and readiness to act, but the price of this is a pathological almost lack of satisfaction with oneself and one's work. The spiral of successive actions and activities is a permanent pursuit of a soothing sense of fulfillment.
The embroidery portrays the moment when a disgusted Sisi looks into her reflection in the hand mirror, knowing that she will never satisfy the expectations not only of her strict mother-in-law - but most of all her own.
The work is made on an almost historical fabric from the family collection.
