The Garden of Fragility

Ukrainian-born artist Maria Kulikovska (b. 1988) uses her own body as the central element in her work, repeatedly reproducing it in the form of sculptural replicas made from a variety of natural and artificial materials. Her preferred materials are natural and artificial substances that radically differ from those typically used in sculpture, including salt, milk, sugar, plaster, epoxy resin, and even ballistic soap, a material used in the testing of weapons. Her compositions draw attention to the biological changes experienced by the female body, the temporality of the flesh and the body, the material principle, as well as the debates surrounding women’s position in society. The bust on display here refers back to the iconographic tradition of the hortus conclusus. In art history, images of this kind depicted the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus in a beautiful, idyllic walled garden. The earliest examples are to be found in medieval miniatures, after which they appear in Renaissance paintings. In each case, the garden is a symbol of absolute purity and innocence. Kulikovska’s self-casted bust with flowers enclosed can be interpreted as a contemporary paraphrase of this iconographic tradition, which is also closely associated with the Old Testament Song of Songs. The other works on display are from the artist’s latest watercolour series, Letter to Eva (2023), which reflect on one of the most fragile of female principles, the inheritance of motherhood, and the reality of the artist’s life as a refugee.