We were human. We longed for beauty, 2025

site-specific installation: metal fencing, synthetic hair, video 8:39

‘We were human.We longed for beauty’ is a tribute to women’s memory, strength and tenderness. The artist invokes the braid as a symbol of sisterhood, solidarity and resistance to violence. Interwoven strands of hair, soft yet resilient, form a structure of endurance and everyday defiance against systems that sought to silence women and strip them of their dignity. The hair entwines a fence – an emblem of control and restriction – transforming it into an expression of memory and intimacy. Each braid has its own shape, colour and character, reflecting the different stories of the women whose voices Sayapina recalls. The installation does not create a single monument, but rather many small acts of remembrance.

The installation was created for Narracje #16, a public art festival that explores Gdańsk’s districts through site-specific works. Sayapina’s inspiration was Joanna Muszkowska-Penson, a former resident of the Aniołki district – a doctor, a Ravensbrück prisoner and an activist of the Solidarity movement. Her story becomes a point of departure for a broader narrative about the many women who survived camps, ghettos and prisons. The artist draws on quotations from Karolina Sulej’s books Personal Belongings and Personal Stories, bringing forth words from letters, memoirs and interviews in which the prisoners’ fragility and care for appearance emerge as acts of courage and survival.