Katalin Ladik

(b. 1942, Novi Sad, Yugoslavia; lives and works in Budapest)

Blackshave Poem (Performance in Young Artists Club, Budapest), 1979
Gelatin silver print, 8 parts, each 15 x 10.5 cm
Courtesy of the artist and acb Gallery, Budapest

Katalin Ladik, poet, artist, and performer, first emerged within a circle of avant-garde writers in the Yugoslav (now Serbian) city of Novi Sad. She began working actively in the 1970s, when the postwar generation of artists were posing the question of individual self-expression and sexuality in the socialist context. In the culture of the Communist bloc countries gender roles were determined by notions of the collective identity of working people. One’s personal image was developed almost exclusively in a private way through individual tailoring and dressmakers’ studios.The naked body was perceived as both indecent and abstract, something which did not belong to the collective. Having gained notoriety with her nude appearances, Ladik aimed to restructure viewers’ expectations with a series of performances jointly known as Blackshave Poem. It is a reaction to reaction: having affirmed a sexuality that was independent of the collective, the artist refused it after she was faced with a purely consumer attitude to nudity. In these actions, under the layer of clothing there is another, black layer, which entirely covers the body, but repeats its contours. Lace lingerie retain a hint of the erotic, but the act of seduction is hampered by the fact that Ladik imitates shaving, not only of her body but also of her face. In Blackshave Poem the artist regains control over the objectification of the body, taking it beyond erotic demonstration.