Untitled (life – death)

The concept of the work is based on the observation that the words życie (“life”) and śmierć (“death”), which share only two letters (“i” and “e”), intersect when written twice vertically and horizontally and superimposed upon one another, evoking both the form of a crossword and the Christian cross. This creates the possibility of an ambiguous interpretation of the relationship between the two concepts. Life and death may run parallel (someone is born, someone dies) or intersect (death cuts off life; yet, in the history of Christianity, life in the person of Jesus Christ overcomes death). The work has been presented as black letters on a white background and as white letters on a black background. It has been presented as a typescript on paper, ink writing on paper, letters cut from foil on Bristol board, a photographic print and a digital print on paper mounted on a rigid support. It also appears on Stanisław Dróżdż’s tombstone in Sławków in the form of letters carved in stone.