MY COUNTRY, MY BLOOD

 My Body in the Landscape, Landsape in my Body

 Vienna 2020

The composition of this exhibition is a complex universe of my perception of Slovakia, my home country. The content of my drawings is above all the metaphorical, emotional landscape in which the memories of my past reflect an autopsy of my life. The drawn collection consists of two parts through which the viewer is led - my body in the landscape and the landscape in my body. The title of this exhibition “My Country, My Blood!” describes an essential dilemma of many members of various minorities in Slovakia. The basic question is who owns this country and who can be an equal part of it. With this title I want to acquire something that never belonged to me. This country, its norms and structures are still patriotized and no others are allowed.

Map:

A drawing hovers in the middle of the first room, I call it the emotional map of my past.

Their meticulously worked out shape is reminiscent of a microscopic tissue made from raw meat. This portrays a physical relationship with my country and emotions associated with it. Studies of corpses and organs from the Anatomy Institute Vienna, which were developed over several years, became an important guideline for my work. So the elaboration of this map is also a result of my graphic research. The viewers should be able to view them from all sides like a miniature model. On the map are small needles on which my emotions are written, which deliberately abstract the past and only reduce it to the essential - my ongoing feelings about Slovakia.

3 landscapes:

Six colored pencil drawings hang on the walls. Three of them are abstract images of a landscape that I call the landscape of the dreaming, the naive and the past love. These drawings symbolize the longing and countless efforts to become a permanent and indispensable part of this landscape. The pictures simultaneously embody the fascination and love for my country. However, the viewer's focus turns from the outside to the inside because they embody the bitter fact of never having been home.

3 Intestines:

The Three other drawings are anatomical illustrations of my digestive organs. Here I dissect my intestine as an excretory organ. The view here is the opposite pole to the other three landscapes - from the inside to the outside. I describe these intestines as anatomical landscapes of my body. They symbolize an act of exclusion, segregation and repulsion from my country. Here I reflect on the formative memories of leaving my country about 15 years ago. With an incessant routine and detailed process of drawing these intestines,

I process this difficult part of my life.

My memories are the only thing that has remained of me in Slovakia until today. That is why I sort and archive them for eternity, because my innermost is my home.