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Xawery Deskur
Photographs and films installation
Mother and Son examines the intimate, multilayered relationship between Marta Deskur and her adult son, Xawery Deskur. The artist intentionally withholds specific details, allowing viewers to uncover the work’s meanings gradually; revealing them in advance would weaken its performative structure and alter the emotional trajectory of its reception.
While the scenes are partially staged, the unfolding of events and the dialogues emerge through improvisation. This approach captures the delicate balance between construction and spontaneity, opening a space for genuine reactions that become a central component of the work’s form.
Rudnik nad Sanem_2025
Piotr Jaros
Triumph is a work I now perceive as sad and repulsive. To this day, I do not understand why I agreed to have a full cast of my body made by Waldemar Pokromski (commissioned by Piotr Jaros). With the distance of time, I can clearly see that manipulation was at work — a method Piotr employed toward many people. He manipulated, mythologised his stories, abused alcohol, and lied.
I do not know what this work was meant to refer to, nor what Piotr Jaros understood by the titular “triumph.”
Was the “triumph” what happened to his wife, Ania Janczyszyn — an event that ended with her hospitalisation? I visited her in the hospital; it was she herself who told me then why she had been admitted.
Was the “triumph” the experience of violence that I myself endured — an event after which I lost a tooth and for a long time was unable to speak about it or seek help?
In all his so-called “enchantment,” Piotr Jaros was able to easily persuade others to follow his ideas. He spun narratives and convinced everyone that a great success would occur, pretending — or believing — that he fully believed in it himself.
I inherited the cast of my head. For years it stood in a basement — until the revulsion triggered by the mere thought of those experiences became unbearable. I threw it away.
I do not know what happened to the remaining elements of this sculpture. What I do know is that I am now performing a personal ritual of cleansing and de-enchantment. Silence and secrecy, lies and aggression are being named and brought into the open. Mentally and consciously, I embrace the cast of myself. I withdraw from it any identifying connection with me — its traits, meaning, and touch. I embrace it and return it to myself.
There is nothing of me left in this sculpture except the physicality taken from my body through touch. Now I reclaim even that physicality. If this sculpture still exists somewhere, it is no longer me. The head, arms, legs, and torso lie somewhere separately, deprived of what is most essential: me.
At that time, I was already a victim of Piotr’s jealousy over my every gesture, not a “star,” as he would “triumphantly” and with characteristic solemnity describe it. That is the truth.
Figure 1: full-body cast of Marta Deskur — but this is no longer Marta Deskur, life-size
Figure 2: full-body cast of Piotr Jaros, life-size
1995 – Exhibition New I’s for New Years, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
1996 – Exhibition at the Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary
Editorial Note
This text constitutes a personal testimony and artistic commentary by the author, based on her experiences, memory, and reflections over time. It describes Marta Deskur’s participation in a work by another artist and the emotional, ethical, and biographical consequences of that collaboration. It is not intended as a legal or journalistic reconstruction of events, but as an authorial narrative situated within the archival and artistic context of the website.
Untitle 1993 (Marta Deskur on the left)
Triumph_1995_Exhibition viev New I’s for New Years, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany