Chlepa – Symbolic Sybiosis

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Almost every aspect of the Polish artist duo Chlepa, consisting of Klementyna Epa and Anna Chlebowska, is interwoven and intermingled. Their hair colours, techniques, and languages seem like perfect complements and contrasts to each other, while their illustrations and prints merge into a new yet strangely familiar art form. Epa’s creatures and protagonists twist and curl into each other, as if mimicking the tangled thoughts of their creator. Chlebowska’s artist books become both a refuge and a relic, and are less boxes and more miniature enigmas. From these combinations and symbioses emerges their contribution to Fresh A.I.R.’s eighth edition, the Chlepa Codex. A collection of nine boxes filled with ambiguous and symbolic remnants and fragments of woven narratives. Their project aims not only to explore the communicative potential of their new graphemes but also the various relational aspects between the artists themselves.

Within the framework of the Chlepa Codex, the artists explore language on the basis of culturally agreed conventions. Since antiquity, the connection between language and perception has been debated across various disciplines. The idea that language has an influence on our thinking was put forward as early as humanism, and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis was the latest to introduce the idea of linguistic relativity to the wider public. This hypothesis of linguistic relativity asserts that the grammar of any language does not merely reproduce ideas, but can itself shape and guide thoughts. Thinking further, a reality is constituted in which there is no longer an objective world, but in which the perception of each person speaking is subject to the language’s own structures. This can affect numerous areas of perception in concrete examples: for instance, if a language has a particularly pronounced grammatical system or vocabulary for localisation based on cardinal directions, the ability for spatial orientation seems to increase relationally. Language influences thinking. And the impact that art has on our perception as a means of communication can be confirmed by every art enthusiast. Ultimately, one of Whorf’s less discussed points appears to contain a valuable thought for visual art as well: The engagement with linguistics, one’s own language, and its grammar, according to Whorf, makes it possible to see through one’s own cognition.

Chlepa now inquire about what happens to the meaning within a language that is practically indecipherable. Does language have a meaning beyond what we allow and force it to mean? The duo provides an answer to these questions: If only the symbolic, imitative nature of language remains, its meaning becomes a collective effort of continuous and individual interpretation. Although consciously ambiguous and open to interpretations, both artists process their own struggles and relationships within their work. „It’s about us, but just as much about every single person who interacts with us,“ says Epa, capturing the synergy permeating the entire project.

Epa and Chlebowska not only aim to merge experiences and interpretations in their work, but seemingly incidentally fuse conflicting aspects of their work at every turn. Initially, their intentions for the project had to be unified. With their changing environment, they had to navigate their spoken languages. Both women are proficient in three languages, as well as their own visual languages. Working methods and strategies had to be adapted. Although Klementyna and Anna specialise in the same fields, their techniques are just as unique as their visual languages, and these had to be reconciled, followed by their materials. Accordingly, the Chlepa Codex becomes an artefact that has been constructed collectively and need to be individually deciphered.

Text: Liza Riedemann

Sources: Basel Al-Sheikh Hussein: “The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Today.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 2, no. 3 (2012), pp. 642-646. Benjamin Lee Whorf: Language, Thought, and Reality, Second Edition: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf, edited by John B. Carroll, et al., MIT Press (2012)

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Chlepa

Klementyna Epa and Anna Chlebowska are illustrators, printmakers, and artists from Poland.
They also work collectively under the pseudonym Chlepa. Their primary focus of interest is responding to problems that contemporary society is facing by means of art – either with direct commentary in the form of illustrations or an answer in a more abstract form. Klementyna’s previous works are mainly about an individual entangled in a disturbing socio-political context while at the same time drawing from her own experiences. Anna’s former work deals with human-nature relations, the concept of landscape, and how climate change affects our well-being.

Instagram: @klementyna.epa, @a.h.chlebowska

Portfolios: Klementyna Epa, Anna Chlebowska