Why and how do I want to become a witch?

1. The Spell If you want to become a witch I advise you to start practising with the spells. 

2. The Voice Spell *whispered sorcery*Voicing out a flow of thoughts, a maze of anxieties. Women are not heard, voices are often excluded, and voices are not listened to. I am whispering so people have to make an effort to listen to me. Whispering may be associated with ASMR and is considered a therapeutic practice with an often calming sensation. Voice is a gendered term. In the sonic piece, the audience experiences the opposite: the absence of a comforting female voice. I aim for some irritation instead. The voice jumps from a whisper to a hiss, monotonous reading and echoing repetition. Many times people are in difficulty telling whether it male or female voice.

3. THE Invisibility spell *a suit of injustice*No one sees me — no one demands anything from me. Such a grotesque move is an answer to the systemic discrimination against women. Biased datasets that exclude women are used everywhere: from government policy and medical research to technology, workplaces, urban planning and the media. It makes half of the population just invisible. I am taking this fact of extreme unfairness to absurdity, as when escapism is taken too literally. A video piece where I am reclaiming my invisibility. I don't always want to be seen as a woman, as a care worker by default.  

4. THE Sexiness spell *Instagram sorcery @spheres_as_b00bs*Here I conduct an experiment against the technochauvinistic belief that automated systems are not discriminative. In my spell, I'm triggering algorithms that may not be misogynistic per se, but that learned from our sexist society and failed to reach independent conclusions. It doesn't matter whether or not my page will be banned in the end. “I study my enemy,” says the narrative voice. UPD 2023: female nipples are still violating Community Guidelines of Instagram 

5. THE Fertility spell*endless fertility control*Witches were persecuted for helping to terminate pregnancies or contraception, infanticide. My spell is about endless fertility control. Here I am creating a symbol of infinity in the form of oral contraceptives. Maternity remains one of the few social institutions to have been little affected by the process of modernization. The discovery of oral contraceptives (OK) in the 60s pushed the oppression of women a few steps back and helped reclaim control over our bodies. Although OK are not fully OK, I am going to use the pill as a symbol to pay tribute to the once-proclaimed sexual revolution. In developed countries and countries in transition, women are no longer passive political objects and are becoming more and more involved in demographic processes by advocating for their interests. Nevertheless, we still have to take to the streets in demonstrations defending the right to abortion. As in the recent Strajk Kobiet in Poland. Something that is claimed to be natural usually appears to be the greatest source of discrimination. Whether you are gay, queer, trans or a woman who does not dream about having kids and a heteronormative family — all are going to be proclaimed as ‘unnatural’.

The witch becomes a symbol of female resistance. She is a figure from myth and legend as well as from the deep history of humanity. In the present, she embodies multiple concepts and is seen in different aspects by different people. The witch is undeniably political and therefore her powers can be used to remedy many of the injustices occurring in society today. I am casting these spells to raise awareness of the ongoing and too-often still invisible discrimination against women. While magic is a refusal of the explanation, I am using it to actually explain and elucidate things. To stress how that which is invisible is not necessarily transparent in our society. Something quiet is not worse than something loud. The witch can therefore conjure up a more equal future wherein different kinds of existence are all made visible.  With this knowledge, I am honoured to join the witch coven.