About
Emilka Wolniewicz, MFA (she/her) is a Polish-American artist, writer, and researcher. She is fascinated by chaos, craft, collected objects, dualities, consumerism, text, translation, beauty and wit, and how these entities merge together. Guided by words, and working through hand and body, Emilka uses material from trash, informative labels, protest posters, magazines, coded language, as well as surrealist automatism and photography. Her practice investigates politics of consumer culture, material histories, temporality, language, desire, and comfort. She primarily plays with collaging in digital weavings, stitching, embroidery, embellishments, code, writing, and garment construction. In response to the particular chaos of commodities and pop culture at large, her work disrupts the innate utility of textiles, while still preserving their history. It is ornamented with extravagant bizarreness, story, and delight through overwhelming scale, luxurious textures, and rosy hue. It is these conceptual considerations, as well as study of text and objects that are substrates to her artistic work fostering reflection on the peculiar actions of contemporary popular culture and its politic.
Practice
I investigate consumerism and pop culture through whimsical textiles like large scale hand woven tapestries and extravagantly embellished weavings, creating heirlooms dedicated to tell the stories of chaotic commodities and mass desire.
Currently working on
Another hand-sewn quilt similar to BULLSEYE Floor loom woven lace inspired by flowers and textile labor protests Handwoven outfits Shuttle-tatted lace
Inspiration
Products and their advertisements Color pink; roses Craft labor and history Therapeutic efforts of textiles Fashion and body; adoration ethics and sustainability
Upcoming shows & projects
Group Show: The Right Place at Nice Age Projects in Chicago, IL - opening: August 15 Group Show: Digital Weaving Alumni Exhibition at Praxis in Cleveland, OH: on view Visible Mending Workshop at Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art - August 15 Collaborative project with Omnia Sol
Favorite spot in Chicago
concrete beaches
