Art work is work

The embroidered handbag “Artistic work is work” is an object that I used as a banner during the Paszporty Polityki awards ceremony in 2025, one of the most important cultural awards in Poland.

The slogan refers to demands to recognize artistic labor as full-fledged work that requires systemic solutions and fair remuneration.

I wanted to appear at the ceremony with a carrier of this message and was looking for a form that would be legible both from the stage and in the television broadcast.

I considered various options and ultimately chose a handbag. It functions simultaneously as an everyday object and a performative tool, easy to photograph and easy to tuck under the arm at the right moment. The handbag was created in collaboration with Joanna Sitar, with whom I jointly developed its form.

During the Paszporty Polityki awards ceremony, at the moment of announcing the name of the award recipient, Piotr Szarzyński held the handbag up, displaying the embroidered slogan. “Artistic work is work” subsequently became the guiding motto of the Paszporty Polityki awards in 2025.