Abstract
In post-socialist Poland care, empathy, and hospitality have traditionally been regarded as the domain of women and consequently devalued. However, recent events—the COVID-19 pandemic, the influx of migrants from war-torn Ukraine, and the conservative government’s tightening of abortion laws—have reshaped the meanings and political implications of these concepts. Today, Polish artists are increasingly employing practices of care, hospitality, and solidarity as affective strategies of “weak resistance” (Majewska, 2019) against the dominant structures of patriarchal society. Post-socialist art has thus emerged as an unruly space where feminist politics and artistic practice converge, fostering what has been described as an “uneventful feminist revolt,” hidden political identities, and acts of tender solidarity (Tokarczuk, 2019). I argue that engaged post-socialist art practices can expand the concept of political agency to include care, empathy, and hospitality, redefined through the lenses of community, solidarity, and affectiveness. The unifying framework for these ideas is sisterhood (Morgan, 1970), understood as stepping beyond individual comfort zones, acting collectively and non-hierarchically, and seeking inclusive, empowering alternatives to patriarchal forms of social organization. This conception of sisterhood emphasizes empathy, sincerity, care, support, and presence. Building on this understanding, I provide a philosophical analysis of the Traces of Sisterhood workshop, held at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in May 2022. This artistic event initiated a multi-year project exploring sisterhood as both a model for social organization and a practice of non-spectacular, communal being and action. It broadens the notion of political agency, challenging its neoliberal, hegemonic limitations.
Presenters
Natalia Anna MichnaAssistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Malopolskie, Poland
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
CARE, HOSPITALITY, SISTERHOOD, COMMUNITY, POLITICAL AGENCY, POST-SOCIALIST ART, FEMINISM
