Sodom and Gomorrah

The
animals, women, children, all in red – explosive red, volcanic red, wine red –
are doing something weird. We don’t know what they are doing; it evokes some
sort of a ritual participated in by women, children and animals. There’s no
sound, only movements; women pat the animals and children play with them. The
animals lying on the ground seem to be dead and the people try to bring them
back to life.

The
eloquence of her formal language, as well as the language of colours – which in
different cultures invokes a number of symbolic meanings infused with emotional
dimensions – is thoughtfully combined with the softness of the selected
materials. In her work, Justyna Koeke is focused on the ideas that live in our
subconscious or in dreams. Human imagination plays a significant role, as well
as psychological mechanisms such as repression or control and reflection of
social structures in general. She loves working with children because they live
in the world of freedom that is difficult to reach for adults. In her view,
children are beings that are not – like adults – totally determined by a
society-imposed system of beliefs and behaviour; thus, she integrates them into
her performances.

Organisation and
production: City of Women; Tobacco 001 Cultural
Centre /
MGML.