From Print to Digital: Reappropriation of the Ready-Made Image in Works of Margit Sielska and Weronika Gęsicka

Abstract

between print and digital photomontage practices through theworks of two women artists, Margit Sielska (1900-1980) and Weronika Gęsicka (1984-),addressingthe way these lesser-known, non-Anglophone artists reveal a continuity ofinterests across time. Changes in technology have allowed the cut and pastetechnique of photomontage to evolve from the use of scissors and glue to the useof software. Byreappropriating and manipulating the ready-made image of women andstereotypical family life from printed and photographic materials, both artistschallenge assumptions about a woman’s role in society while constructing newsettings and realities for their subjects to occupy. In both instances, thecombinatory process of montage serves to question and disrupt traditional andnormative representations of women and domesticity. By drawing on theparallels between artworks made with different techniques but deriving from theshared creative process of appropriating and manipulating the ready-made imageto create new, unexpected situations, the article reveals a continuity betweencertain modernist practices and contemporary digital culture.