OFLUXO

Rupture of the corporeal shell with a thin needle is often perceived as a violation of the body’s personal integrity. Nevertheless, this act is not necessarily undesirable, hostile, or socially unacceptable – we can agree with it, for example, under the promise of treatment, intoxication, or if the needle is dipped in ink.

The theme of the exhibition ‘Man from Clay Water’, which Kristýna Hejlová prepared for the Zaazrak|Dornych space, is based on the author’s current life experience on several levels. Since graduating from art college a few years ago, she gradually turned away from the so-called “free” art towards the free distribution of images permanently placed on the surfaces of human bodies. Her tattoo practice is then associated with a relatively unconventional decision – Kristýna has no tattoos on the body of her own.

Especially in the tattoo community, this choice naturally arouses astonishment and a number of questions. Similar to tattoos – comments, remarks, and questions represent an entry into a personal space, where the degree of revelation to others represents a question of personal choice.

For the current exhibition, Kristýna Hejlová decided to create a set of tattoos specifically for herself without disturbing the spotlessness of her own skin in the process. From the flayed skin of a dead animal, she makes her own alternative body cover, the function of which can be uncovering a personal taboo, as well as covering her own body. Kristýna Hejlová chooses skin as a symbol of intimacy, the transition between inner and outer, exposed and veiled. At the same time, she briefly touches on other often key issues for her, such as extinction, the boundaries of the living and the inanimate, the dead and the soulful, the human ability (predestination?) to shape the world, including the question of impacts and the moral acceptability of our actions.

The art of changing and controlling one’s surroundings can, to some extent, be considered a magical ability. And that’s exactly how Kristýna Hejlová perceives it as well. To sew a piece of clothing from dead animal skin and cover it with pictures of branching organic structures reminiscent of the proliferation of various living forms is a small ritual, intimate personal witchcraft.