Tree.

From a very early age the tree knows how to find the sky. It doesn’t matter how carelessly it was dropped or deeply it was buried. The stem will snake around itself until it feels the open air.

Hand.

The human child is born with an ability to grasp. It’s a tie to our brachiating primate relatives, the gibbons and siamangs. if an infant grabs on to you with both hand you could lift them this way and they would hold on.

Heart.

The heart was planted in the chest, its roots stretching along the forearm, traveling down to nourish the feet, branching through the cranium. It delivers oxygen and sugar to the units of life in need, then clears out the body of CO2 and waste. When the bat tucked himself close to his mother, he heard some deep drumming and closed his eyes, not concerned with where the noise was coming from.

Femur.

August is a time for death that precedes golden leaves. The dense heat lingers long into evening. As the red sun tucks behind the cedar ridgeline, it illuminates a form on the warm dirt. The femur of a deer glows softly, its thin body will decompose first, leaving the knotted joints titled upright and reaching until the soil reclaims them, folds them in.

-By Quinn Edwards

Herstory

Magdalena Abakanowicz, originally named of Marta was born in Falenty, Poland on June 20, 1930. Marta lived during times of war in Poland and when she was younger, and during the war her mother was shot by German soldiers. Fleeing from war, and after the Communists assumed power Marta’s family moved to Tczew, Poland where she studied fine-arts in Gdynia. During these times she changed her name to Magdalena and from 1950-1954 Magdalena continued to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland. Although Magdalena was rejected from the sculpture program she continued to study painting. It was not until 1960 when her fist monumental hanging textile would be created titled “Abakans”. Mentioned in The New York Times, Magdalena was recruited as a nurse’s aide, treating wounded soldiers while living in Poland as a teenager during the war. In the 1970’s Magdalena’s work was centered around fragmented human forms where could be inspired from her time being a nurse’s aide during the War.

Although, Magdalena’s work is left to interpretation by the audience her work was highly influenced from her experiences in Poland and expressed problems of dignity and courage. Her work in known as being individualistic, vulnerable, and contemporary as she stated

I immerse in the crowd, like a grain of sand in the friable sands. I am fading among the anonymity of glances, movements, smells, in the common absorption of air, in the common pulsation of juices under the skin….

Magdalena’s outdoor installations have been featured in places throughout the world and when seen are sure to be noticed for their unique style, organic feeling, and meaningful characteristics.
Manus was created in 1994 as part of the Hand-like Trees series. Her sensitivity to nature has been in important part of her work since the beginning. Biographers have cited her childhood wandering in the forest outside her family estate as a key influence on her artwork. She saw the Germans take over her forest that had been her childhood refugee. Poland was invaded by Germany when she was nine years old. Magdalena had lived a life in a politically violated country where instability was a permanent state. Which influenced her series called War Game. This was created with tree trunks that were in a horizontal position on frames symbolizing tables. After she finished her series, she decided to continue to use tree trunks in her domain, but wanted to express the relationship between mankind and nature. This is when she started to create the Hand-Like series in the 1990s and created Manus in 1993.

In a statement for an exhibition in Poland she states:

now that the earth has become a scrap heap of human ambitions, people need places in which to meet one another’s institution and imagination manifested in a way as transient as the phenomena of nature. I am also thinking of taking the spectator out into the open where, was in a temple, he may suddenly learn the truth of himself, God, nature.

When Manus was created, there was several events happening in art, pop culture, and world events. Interactive installation became a genre in art. Artists were interested in having the audience involved by acting on their artwork. Also, the industrialized countries agreed to stop dumping waste into the oceans. The internet was also made available to unrestricted commercial use and a number of computers on the net reached 1 million.

Magdalena passed being featured in more than 40 solo exhibitions and numerous awards on April 21, 2017.

-By Ruby Zamora and Angelica Sanchez

Bibliography

Abakanowicz, M., & Brenson, M. (1993). Magdalena Abakanowicz: sculpture, April 30-June 5, 1993. New York, NY: Marlborough Gallery, Inc.

Abakanowicz, M. (1993). Magdalena Abakanowicz: recent sculpture. Providence, RI: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design.

Grimes, William . “Magdalena Abakanowicz, Sculptor of Brooding Forms, Dies at 86.” The New York Times. N.p., 21 Apr. 2017. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.

Magdalena Abakanowicz: Fighting the Crowd [Interview by C. Paglia]. (1994, Sept. & oct.). Sculpture, 20-25.

Rutkowski, Studio S Stefan. “Magdalena Abakanowicz.” Magdalena Abakanowicz. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.