Aleksandra Kalisz

Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto

phd student // FCT studentship

Aleksandra Kalisz was born in Gdynia, Poland in 1992. Currently living and creating in Guimarães, Portugal. At present she is a PhD student at Fine Arts department at Universidade do Porto. Studied Painting in Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk where she got a Master degree in the studio of Maciej Swieszewski in 2016. In 2014/15 stipendist of LPP Erasmus programme in Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Finalist of competitions in Poland “Eibisch 2018”, “Ale sztuka!” and “Promotions” where she got a distinction of “Center of Contemporary Art in Torun”. In 2017 she was selected for an Art Residency in Marrakech, Morocco. She took part in exhibitions in Poland and abroad. Her works are held in private collections in United States, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, Italy, Morocco and Poland. Specializes in painting, drawing and installation.

 

Thesis title
Notions of women-femininity in contemporary visual arts

FCT reference
2020.08430.BD

Abstract
The project investigates the concept of femininity in contemporary visual arts. Femininity is analysed in relation to culture as the perception of feminine attributes, which can be expressed in appearance or look, is strongly influenced by media and history. Because of the connection of the complex concept to character traits, gender and identity, the studies of femininity in psychology and female sexuality are taken into account. Referring to common perception of the subject, the project looks for a way to the portrayal of the feminine attributes in the form of visual arts. The proposal reckons with works of contemporary female artists and their exploration of present-day perception of femininity. The research includes a series of interviews with different Millennial women to give an insight into the subject. The results of the investigation are presented in a form of realist paintings combined with Augmented Reality technology and in textual production.

Supervision
Sofia Torres (supervisor) and Diniz Cayolla (co-supervisor)

 

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