By Kasia Oleskiewicz
My solo exhibition Any Body Home is being presented at the War Memorial Gallery, Summerhall, Edinburgh (31.01 — 29.03.2026) as part of the series Catalyst: Art as Activism.
Through the show, I imagine public space as safe for all the bodies — not only human. Depicting bodies on the verge of hybridity or abstraction, I envision a perspective where we see a sentient body without the need to categorise it — be it gender, nationality, ability, or species. In this reality, the protection of any living, feeling being has become the highest social and political priority.
My research on interspecies safe spaces has been informed by vegan-feminist critical theories, in particular The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegan Critical Theory by Carol J. Adams, who analyses the deep connections between butchering and sexual violence.
The central focus of the exhibition is my series Manifestos for Regaining Space, composed of three spatial artworks, created in 2024 during my artist residency at the Hugo Burge Foundation, Marchmont Estate, Scotland. The idea for the works emerged as my reaction to the news report about a brutal rape and murder which happened in central Warsaw. They were a response to the overwhelming everyday violence and the patriarchal culture which consents to it.
The first object within the series, Memorial to Victims of Violence in Shared Spaces, was created out of a need to commemorate and mourn the victim of that particular crime, as well as all the violated, hurt bodies. My aim was to convey the experience of total harm and unjustified tragedy.
The second object, Fear, was created as an expression of how I felt in my body after having heard the violent news. It depicts a state of paralysing fear. This fear helps me to identify with nonhuman animals who live in a space that was not built for them.
The third object from the series is Manifesto for Regaining Space. It expresses a dream of being and feeling safe wherever we go — a dream extended to all bodies. The idea for this object emerged from my need to reclaim space, rebuild trust, and create safe spaces. The sculpture refers to the pose of a reclining Venus, a symbol of the male gaze throughout art history — at the same time reclaiming the narrative. The sculpture is surrounded by homely paraphernalia: carpet, slippers, vegan cookies, an artist zine and a notebook — inviting the viewer to sit and feel comfortable.
Kasia Oleśkiewicz (she/her) is a POlish visual artist, researcher, art historian, and vegan. She works with socially engaged art that advocates for nonhuman rights and envisions species-inclusive utopian futures. She holds an MA in Contemporary Arts Practice from the University of the Arts in Bern, Switzerland; an MA in Sculpture from teh Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland; and a BA in Art History from the University of Warsaw, Poland. She currently works between Switzerland, Scotland, and Poland.