TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Romanian artist Andreea Medar’s first solo exhibition in Taiwan, "Since the Wood of Your Window Has Been Blooming," opens at the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts until May 18.
As part of the museum’s "Herstory" project, the exhibition explores memory, the female body, and the evolution of cultural heritage through a variety of mediums, including video, installation, and hand-stitched embroidery.
The exhibition centers on an abandoned school building in Racoți Village, southern Romania, which was once the home of Medar’s grandmother. This building, later converted into a school, stands as a witness to the village’s rise and decline.
Through this structure, the 35-year-old artist delves into the profound connection between memory and materiality, highlighting the resilience and strength of women. Her works not only reconstruct the village’s history but also reveal the challenges traditional cultures face under globalization.
Medar’s art revolves around hand-stitched embroidery, elevating the traditional craft to a contemporary art form. In Racoți Village, embroidery was a vital part of women’s lives, carrying personal experiences and cultural codes across generations.
Through intricate stitches, Medar reinterprets history and emphasizes women’s crucial role in cultural preservation. The exhibition also sheds light on the collective lives of women during World War II, who managed farms and raised children alone, showcasing extraordinary resilience.
This historical contrast with the village’s current desolation underscores themes of heroism and loss. In the face of globalization and urbanization, Medar’s work seeks to preserve history through personal memory, fostering cultural regeneration.
By blending traditional embroidery with modern materials like plastic, she bridges the gap between past and present, inviting viewers to reflect on identity, memory, and societal change.
Andreea Medar, born 1990 in Romania, is known for merging traditional techniques with contemporary themes. Her works are held in the collections of the National Museum of Contemporary Art and the Timișoara Art Museum. She was awarded the Romanian Young Artist Prize in 2021.
