It’s not only about tales of heroines and villains, but reflections on societies — neighbors, cultures, and powers lost to time. Many of the once-told stories are fragmented, with blank pages and passages erased by history. This showcase doesn’t aim to present the whole, but instead highlights the fragments and the small pieces of history that may have been lost.
Like the Mazonian area, an alternative feminist culture that is said to have flourished from the 6th to the 17th century. This area is not a geographically or politically defined term; rather, it is a fictional and cultural concept, where myths speak of Amazons who once served as warriors and protectors. These stories can be understood as symbolic narratives about female strength and the desire for independence. The name “Mazonia” can be associated with the swamp — a place of origin: untamed, organic, a humid space from which life and transformation emerge. The traces of these stories persist, still waiting to be uncovered. Not just as narratives, but as constituting forces that shape collective consciousness, a network of perceptions. It is a place of contradictions, where utopias can turn into nightmares.
This tension between symbolic fragility and enduring strength is echoed in cultural expressions, such as a common Polish saying: “You cannot hit a girl, not even with a flower,” implying that women are even more fragile than flowers and therefore in need of protection. This comparison, made explicitly with a flower, should not be overlooked. Women could be compared to all sorts of plants, yet they are compared to flowers. But this fragility is deceptive. Women have historically always been exposed to violence and danger. For them, it is essential to sense changes and detect threats — always fighting against a world that demands their silence. Their power often stems from the ability to endure and respond. A fleeting moment of weakness can unfold into a powerful act of resistance. The stillness of fragility is the beginning of strength.
In mythology, there are many endings, many storylines. In the end, it is not the final chapter that defines them — it is the journey, the fight. The stories that we still have to tell. This exploration doesn’t offer a conclusion. Instead, it presents a collection of fragments — memories that refuse to fade. Tales that resist being forgotten.
Exhibition: Julia Woronowicz – blank petals. Curated by Julia Harrauer
Exhibition duration: 25.04.2025 – 29.04.2025
Location: flat1_artspace, Radetzkystaße 4, 1030 Vienna
Julia Woronowicz – ww.instagram.com/iulje/