Justyna Badach, refugee, Philadelphia-based artist and museum professional, has brought her work to Syracuse. Badach’s “Land of Epic Battles” solo exhibition, on display now at Light Work, explores the hyper-masculine world of Islamic State group recruitment videos and exposes the futility of war.

Being able to create art about violence and masculinity is important to Badach, both as a woman and as an immigrant. “Land of Epic Battles” is a series of large, handmade dichromate prints composed using film stills from IS training videos, according to Light Work’s website. The prints went on display in January and can be seen through March 2 at the Light Work Gallery on Waverly Avenue.

Badach was born in the former Soviet Union and is of Polish descent. She emigrated to the United States as a refugee with her family in 1980. In May 2012, Badach was an artist-in-residence at Light Work.

The Daily Orange spoke with Badach about her works past and present, and how she plans to use art to continue pushing boundaries. 

The Daily Orange: How would you characterize your art? What is its mission?

Justyna Badach: Well, I have a research-based practice that involves looking at masculine tropes and how they’re communicated through popular culture. So, this is sort of the foundation of my work, and also looking at how myself, as a woman artist, fit into the long history of masculine tropes within art.

The D.O.: What influenced this project?

J.B.: I actually have been working with appropriating imagery for a bit. In 2001, I had another body of work that I had a solo show (with) at White Columns. It was called “Untitled Epic Film Stills,” and those were from movies like “Wyatt Earp” and “Young Guns,” and I was also going through those films and looking for the single frames of landscape that appeared to be unclaimed.

Primarily, I was interested in that because I am an immigrant, a refugee. The space of those films, those very macho (films)…it seemed to be very much kind of tied in for how I could kind of access that space both metaphorically and physically, as a woman and an immigrant, and kind of appropriate that history to myself.

So, I was looking for these landscapes that were empty and picking up the single frames out of those movies, so I was kind of working both as a censor and an editor within the context of those films.

The D.O.: What are your long-term goals as an artist?

J.B.: To continue making work, to push the boundaries of the medium, and to also push the boundaries of what kind of work is considered acceptable for a woman to create.

…The idea of a woman working with subject matter that is violent or (to) some extent, threatening, is not something that’s readily out there…We also live in a world that’s affected by war and violence. And so I think it is important to have the female voice in that conversation.

And so for me, that’s my goal — is to really interject the female voice into what is essentially a global situation that we are also part of and yet oftentimes left out of the conversation.

The D.O.: Why did you choose to bring your art to Syracuse?

J.B.: You guys are actually in a place where there is a lot happening, and this kind of belief that art only happens in big cities, I think, is foolish. A, I don’t think that big cities are necessarily the best places to make art, and B, I don’t think that the audiences for art are necessarily the best in big cities. Because you’re essentially competing with so many different things, and so, sometimes work that’s more difficult and requires a little bit more time of the viewer, is just going to get glossed over in a big city because there are flashier, easier things to see.

So, I think Syracuse actually is a really great place. There’s a huge intellectual community, and it’s very highly respected, and a network of people that are doing really great things. So I’m really excited to be there.

Published on February 20, 2018 at 9:33 pm

Contact Jony: ktsampah@syr.edu