ŻABA WAS NOT A RAT

  • scattered project, 2022

The work was inspired by the artist’s memory from the Przedmieście Oławskie housing estate in Wrocław, where he grew up in the 1990s. Back then, the inscription ŻABA IS A RAT could be seen on many walls, in yards and gates in this part of the city, which was not painted over until many years later. The details of the case are unknown, but “I am interested in the form of this message and the relation of its content to the environment – an authoritative, laconic and enigmatic message, but clearly pointing to the fundamental norms and values   of that place and time, according to which the greatest violation against the code of the street was ratting out on the guys from the hood, colloquially speaking, and one of the forms of punishment could be spraypainting such an inscription on the walls for years”. Żaba’s case itself probably had no major or longlasting significance for the locals. However, the proliferation and durability of the message made it important and eventually turned it into a symbol of rules in the neighbourhood. The work refers to the so called information pills, which are present not only in the media space, but also as everyday messages on the street. It can symbolise the changes occurring in Przedmieście Oławskie, which upended the moral foundations of the former “Bermuda Triangle.” By creating this work, the artist also squares accounts with the violent and stigmatising environment from years ago, doing justice to the symbolic figure of the anonymous Żaba, stigmatised for breaking the code of the street.