Bodegon – Małgorzata Widomska

2024/2025
installation (paintings and objects)

In the Baroque period, the still life known as bodegon became popular — a genre that, to put it simply, depicted delicacies and the vessels used to store them in cool cellars.
This is where I chose to pause. In the cellar, a space that symbolises the repressed areas of the home — where pickled cucumbers are stored in jars and worn-out furniture is kept — one can also bury trauma, hide a dark secret, or safely expose emotions. The cellar is not yet infused with the scent of a kitchen, but more often with the smell of earth and slow decay, which doesn’t waste a single speck of life. It is where nourishment multiplies, and where snails slowly crawl.
The smell of the cellar evokes in me an inexplicable sense of truth, hope, and relief.