installation
drawing, shadow

In Poland, the Żabianka housing estate served as a flagship example of how to design shared spaces between residential buildings. Particularly important here were the playgrounds created specifically for Żabianka – Indian Village and Robinsonade – built from natural materials such as wood, stone and rope. They linger in the memory of people who played there as children, many of them now adult residents of the estate, who recall that the playgrounds attracted children from all over Gdańsk. Indian Village and Robinsonade were designed by the architect Jacek Krenz. Unfortunately, neither has survived.

Maya Gordon was ten years old when her parents decided to leave Poland. No one asked whether she wanted to go or leave her beloved friends behind. As a result of emigration, Gordon now associates childhood with a lost place and time. In her work, the image of a girl jumping – the artist as a child – is superimposed on the urban landscape, conjuring a remembered scene. The girl’s shadow becomes a trace left in memory, one that has stayed with the artist throughout her life.

The artist on her work:

In my memory, the leap from the sphere is an image charged with emotion and recollection. I was eight years old and full of crazy ideas. Jumping from the sphere in Duszniki-Zdrój was a challenge I worked up to for several days. It took a great deal of courage. Looking back, childhood may seem carefree, but at the time there were many things we had to contend with. That leap gave me courage, and today I see the image as a symbol of a confident leap into an unknown future.

MAYA GORDON

is a visual artist working in painting, spatial installations, inflatable objects, drawing, printmaking, video, sculpture and performance. In 1957, at the age of ten, she emigrated with her parents to Israel, where she studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. In the early 1970s, she moved to the Netherlands, where she continues to live and work.

www.mayagordon.art