Agata Marchlewicz
Cięta Córa (Cut Daughter) is the artistic project of Agata Marchlewicz. She has been creating paper cut-outs for several years and cultivating traditional craftsmanship. In her artworks she tells private stories.
Creating cut-outs was and still is the domain of women. They cut out to decorate their houses and to enchant reality. They were created in solitude and in rural communities.
“What is cutting to me? It is a return to stories made of the simplest and most accessible material – paper. I cut out ornaments inspired by traditional compositions – plants with fabulous shapes symbolising life, female figures symbolising the mother and zoomorphic shapes identified with fertility creations. My cut-outs – as in the past – decorate homes and build personal places of power.”
Once upon a time in Poland sheep shears were used to create paper cut-outs. Agata cuts the paper with tiny nail scissors. She uses a knife to cut out more complex, asymmetrical compositions – it is a small tribute to the Jewish and Chinese cut-outs, which she is a great admirer of.