Mathew Oyedele
Bob Nosa Uwagboe’s installation, Human Remains is a highlight of the group exhibition “Protest Art” (in Polish, “Sztuka Protestu”), currently being held at WL4 Mleczny Piotr in Poland. This compelling exhibition features Uwagboe’s innovative use of t-shirts and silhouette prints. Having moved to Poland for an art residency programme in the second quarter of this year, Uwagboe has utilized this opportunity to create works reflecting his longstanding commitment to justice, dignity, and safe societies. His installation is a fragmented and distorted composition made from used t-shirts, adorned with stenciled prints depicting human silhouettes and iconic figures associated with resistance movements.
The exhibition, which began on June 22 and runs until July 21, is described by curator Maria Dembek as “an international exhibition of activist art that presents the artistic stances of creators for whom issues of human rights, environmental concerns, gender equality, social justice, and dignity are the primary subjects of observation and concern, and for whom action through art is a form of social activism.” This exhibition brings together diverse forms of expression, including documents and artistic banners from street protests, performative actions, paintings, spatial objects, video, and animation. The works collectively express resistance and struggle against individually and communally experienced oppression, injustice, abuse, and unequal treatment.
Participating artists include Ania Kalwajtys (Poland), Ania Lucid (Poland), a.w. (Poland), Bob Nosa Uwagboe (Nigeria), Jacek Staniszewski (Poland), Javier Bernal Arevalo (Colombia), Katarzyna Lewandowska (Poland), Ivka Macioszek (Poland), Pamela Palma Zapata (Chile), Sylwia Jakubowska-Szycik (Poland), Vahram Mkhitaryan (Armenia), and Yongchang Chung (South Korea). The exhibition features artists from countries affected by prolonged structures of violence and discrimination, for whom art has become a space of political freedom and a tool to amplify the voices of the silenced.
Uwagboe’s Human Remains “aims to reflect the gradual erosion of memory regarding the heritage of those who sacrificed themselves in the struggle against oppressive systems to preserve civil rights and freedoms. His work serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of remembering and honoring these sacrifices in the face of contemporary challenges.”
Curator Maria Dembek elaborates on the exhibition’s intent: “By placing protest within the context of art, the exhibition aims to show a diversity of forms of resistance, and ask which forms of protest we may find most relevant today. It demonstrates how art is inherently intertwined with politics, activism, and social responsibility, while encouraging dialogue and reflection on the shape and direction of democracy in the world today.”
About the Gallery
The exhibition venue, WL4 Mleczny Piotr, is an independent gallery located in the former Imperial Shipyard area in Gdańsk. Run by an association of artists, the gallery has occupied a large post-industrial shipyard building from 1919, now owned by a Belgian investor, since 2018. The association organizes over 30 artistic events annually on local, national, and international scales, promoting and supporting a wide range of cultural projects. These include exhibitions, concerts, dance and music performances, academic lectures, and workshops, with a main focus on visual arts. Their exhibitions often tackle socially and politically important topics, such as identity, human rights, the crisis of democracy, and the war in Ukraine.
WL4 Mleczny Piotr has also launched an artist-in-residence program, hosting residents from South Korea, Nigeria, Canada, Lithuania, and Italy this year. The gallery is an egalitarian space open to both established artists and emerging talents, welcoming all interested parties to participate in cultural activities. It has become an increasingly recognizable landmark on the cultural map of Gdańsk, attracting thousands of visitors each year.
The “Protest Art” exhibition at WL4 Mleczny Piotr is a testament to the power of art as a vehicle for social and political change, bringing together a global community of artists dedicated to highlighting and addressing issues of injustice and inequality through their creative work.
