Natalia LL | |
|---|---|
 Natalia in 1970 | |
| Born | Natalia Lach-Lachowicz 18 April 1937 |
| Died | 12 August 2022(2022-08-12) (aged 85) |
| Education | Academy of Fine Arts,Wrocław |
| Known for | Painting,photography,drawing,performance,video art |
| Notable work | Consumer art (1972) |
| Website | nataliall |
Natalia Lach-Lachowicz (18 April 1937 – 12 August 2022) was a Polish artist who worked with paint, photography, drawing, performance, and video art.Sean O'Hagan, writing inThe Guardian in 2017, described her as "a neglected early-1970s Polish-born pioneer of feminist avant garde image making".[1]
Natalia Lach-Lachowicz was born inŻywiec,Poland. From 1946 to 1956, Lach-Lachowicz lived inBielsko-Biała where she completed basic and secondary education. From 1957 to 1963 she studied at theState College of Fine Arts (nowadays Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts) inWrocław under the supervision of Professor S. Dawski, where she completed her MSc. In 1964 she received a Diploma of theAssociation of Polish Art Photographers [pl] (ZPAF).
Natalia LL was a conceptual artist and photographer, associated with the avant-garde scene of the 1960s in Poland. Through photography and video she deconstructed single-frame photographs and satirizes the images that were presented in advertising, television, and print in the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1970 she co-founded PERMAFO, an artists' group and gallery, with Zbigniew Dłubak and Andrzej Lachowicz. In 1971, after marrying Lachowicz, she assumed the name Natalia LL.[2][page needed] Since 1975 she was engaged in the international feminist art movement and took part in various symposia and exhibitions.
Her series,Consumer Art (1972–1975), depicts close ups of women eating and biting foods like bananas, sausages, and melons. It is often read as a critique, questioning the common representation of women inpornography.[3] She said of it"Feminists saw in my consumer art a perverse struggle with the cult of the phallus and with masculinity. For me it was rather the manifestation of a feeling of life and liveliness."[2]
After suffering from a severe illness in the late 1970s, Natalia LL began to delve into transcendental and mythological subjects, often photographing her performances.
In 2018, the ZW Foundation was founded to preserve the works of Natalia LL as well as to provide a "place for exchanging scientific ideas and creative thoughts".[4]
In April 2019, after an anonymous complaint, thePolish National Museum inWarsaw removed from an exhibition works by Natalia LL,Katarzyna Kozyra, and the duo formed by Karolina Wiktor and Aleksandra Kubiak. This act, which was seen as an act of censorship of feminist art, led to widespread protests; a movement termed "#bananagate."[5][6][7]
Between 2004 and 2013 she was a senior lecturer at theUniversity of Fine Arts in Poznań.[2][page needed]
She died on 12 August 2022, aged 85.[8][9][10]
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