There are flowers that are born of mud
with works:

Untitled (Resting Spores) I-IV, screen print on dyed cotton and linen, wax, aluminum frame, 2023
Cocoon I & Cocoon II, dyed cotton, stainless steel, galvanized wire, wax, 2023
Diaphanous Growth, stainless steel, brass, 2023
Skinwalker, stainless steel, dyed fabric, wax, found elements, 2023
Flowerbed I-II, stainless and black steel, epoxy resin, dyed fabric, synthetic textile, rubber cables, empty petrol canisters, 2023

There Are Flowers That Are Born of Mud is the latest brainchild of Ula Lucińska and Michał Kynchaus, a vision emerging between speculation and hope, end and beginning. The starting point for their reflections on the aftermath of an environmental disaster are metaphorical objects from a future that has become past and come too soon. Suspended between the living and the inanimate, the works seem to represent a post-natural – and post-human – order that has emerged in the cracks of our relationship with nature, on the ruins of civilisation and amongst environmental relics.

Ula and Michał’s method of work combines organic materials with machine-produced parts that are later subjected to manual processes such as painting, sanding, bending, stitching and waxing. The final result is a collage-like installation in which natural and artificial elements, made by machines, humans and non-humans, are woven together to create a sense of suspension between different systems. This practice regularly appears in Inside Job’s work, as do their distinctive motifs and ornaments, creating an indecipherable code, an aesthetic language unique to their work.

The title of Inside Job’s latest exhibition refers to the symbolism of the lotus – an aquatic perennial whose impressive inflorescences can grow thanks to a root system that draws organic compounds from the muddy bottom of a body of water. In this context, a popular motif from the religious traditions of the Far East can be equated with the dark ecology preached by Timothy Morton, among others. Instead of anthropocentrically rejecting that which is considered disgusting and repugnant – i.e. trying to pull the world out of the eponymous mud – we should look at this substratum more closely, for it will bear the fruits of the new world.

- Joanna Kobyłt

more at:
OFluxo

exhibition view:
There are flowers that are born of mud
curated by: Joanna Kobyłt
66P-Subiektywna Instytucja Kultury, Wrocław, Poland
photos: Małgorzata Kujda