SPACE OF BECALMED BEINGS

CROWDS

1988, burlap, resin

Abakanowicz's figures have no faces, they lack this element of autonomy which determines the individual's features. Deprived of faces, they have no identity and no right to speak. Even though each figure has some specific features that differentiate one from the others, they are difficult to notice. What's important is the repetitiveness, identicalness, impersonality. The individual always gets lost in the crowd, but it's also in the crowd where it finds its place.Each Crowd is a separate organism. It's realized in direct contact with the viewer, but most of all it creates an existential metaphor.