Lisa Deikun / I sharpen the blade in order to forgive

Exhibition opening: 11.10.2024 / 18:00

Exhibition duration: 11. – 12.10.2024

Šopa Gallery, Hlavná 40, Košice

Opening hours:

FRI – SAT / 19:00 – 00:00

In this collection of ceramic works, the artist crafts a visual narrative that navigates the fluid boundaries of queerness, kinship, and personal mythology. Through dynamic forms, the exhibition explores oppositions—normal and abnormal, connection and compartmentalization, self and other—using chimeric figures and segmented vases as metaphors for identity and belonging.

Drawing on Roland Barthes’ assertion that “the function of myth is to empty reality,” the exhibition questions how personal and collective mythologies both obscure and reveal reality.  Each piece becomes a space where stories are reclaimed and reshaped, with queerness and kinship woven into new mythic forms, challenging conventional narratives and creating space for fluid identities. 

This fluidity of identity is echoed in the medium itself. Like the clay that is both fragile and enduring, the narrative of queerness unfolds in layers. Chimeras, surreal and hybrid, challenge the binaries of “normal” and “abnormal,” offering a bold commentary on otherness, defiance, and self-definition. The vases, with their fragmented yet connected forms, reflect how we build containers for our experiences—showing both unity and division. “I SHARPEN THE BLADE IN ORDER TO FORGIVE” reflects a journey toward forgiveness and the power of transforming personal and collective wounds. The exhibition celebrates the beauty of the unconventional, finding kinship and strength in the fragments and edges of identities that resist simple categorization. Here, ceramics become both blade and balm—tools for survival, resistance, and ultimately, forgiveness.

LISA DEIKUN (BY)  is interested in human-and-objects relations, queerness, and the intersection of The Real and The Unreal. Central to her narrative are human-object relationships, which she renders through the tactile mediums of weaving, embossing, and installation. These techniques amplify the delicate nature of these connections, embodying their emotional fragility in material form. She is interested in things that can be touched, so she enjoys making zines and sculptural objects and incorporating found objects into her work. Amid her artistic journey lies the universal feeling of alienation, the sentiment of disconnection from self, others, and the world underscores the human experience. Experimenting and engaging with a diverse array of materials, she tries to explore this sentiment, fostering solace in shared struggles and forging meaningful connections through vulnerability.

The residency program is supported using public funding by the Slovak Arts Council. The Slovak Arts Council is the main partner of this project.

The residency of Lisa Deikun is organized thanks to the partnership with Malý Berlín and Pershykrok.by.