Gallery Talk: Exhibition walk through of 'Better a bare foot than none'

Join Guest Curator Marysia Więckiewicz-Carroll and artist Katarzyna Perlak for a short gallery tour and conversation about the exhibition Better a bare foot than none.

Better a bare foot than none see’s Katarzyna Perlak’s 'tender crafts’ series explore how heritage and traditional handwork practices can be re-imagined from contemporary feminist, queer and migrant perspectives. Perlak’s Pajaki sculptures, a starting point for the exhibition, are a material manifestation of Polish tradition. The paper chandeliers, also known as 'spiders', are hung to protect the home, and are historically crafted for Christian, Pagan and folk celebrations. Considering the contradictions within problematic social movements in Poland, as well as her own longing for home, Perlak utilises the feeling of nostalgia to imagine new possibilities for the future.

Katarzyna Perlak’s exhibitions include Liverpool Biennial (2025); V&A Museum, London (2024); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2023); B3 Biennial of Moving Image, Frankfurt (2023); Brent Biennial, London (2022); Jerwood Arts, London (2021); Detroit Art Week (2019); BALTIC, Gateshead (2017); Diaspora Pavilion, 57th Venice Biennale (2017)

Marysia Więckiewicz-Carroll has organised and curated numerous exhibitions and projects in Ireland and abroad, independently and in partnership with various institutions and local authorities, including Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane and Irish Museum of Modern Art. She was a co-editor of Paper Visual Art Journal, and the founding director of Berlin Opticians Gallery. This exhibition is supported by an Arts Council Project Award.

Event location Information: This event will be held in the ground floor gallery. The space will be fully lit with free hanging sculptures and coloured walls. For further accessibility information please contact Learning + Public Engagement Curator Orla Goodwin at orla@templebargallery.com or phone 01 6710073.

Image: Katarzyna Perlak, darning and other times, 2022. Installation view, Brent Biennial. Courtesy of the artist.

Image description: A beauty face mask is suspended from string alongside a number of red, orange and yellow straw plaits.

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios is a leading artists’ studio complex and contemporary art gallery in Dublin City Centre. A centre for creativity in the capital, we provide a place for artists to thrive and ways for you to experience contemporary art. For free. For everybody. Founded in 1983 - by artists, for artists.