In Florentina Pakosta's artistic practice, the observation and study of the outside world, particularly of people and marginalized social groups, has played an important role from the very beginning. During her studies in Prague, she made portraits of patients in mental institutions and homeless people, for which she was expelled from socialist Czechoslovakia. She made long, meticulous observations in public places, during which she believed she could deduce the content of the subjects’ speech from their gestures and body language. In her artistic portrayal of people, she discovered the art form of satire, in which she gradually deformed body parts using exaggerated facial expressions and gestures, and then fused various utensils and tools onto human bodies and faces. This art form is also the source of the work Needle-Brain and Needle-Clitoris, in which she presented the critical points of the female body (face, genitals) as dangerous, piercing needles for men. In her drawings and printed graphics, Florentina Pakosta has been reacting to discrimination against women in the art scene since the 1960s. In her satirical works, which began in 1977, she explored feminist themes, such as the male gaze in the visual arts, and the way in which male artists have portrayed women as objects or muses for centuries. Pakosta consequently turned her gaze to men and began to dissect their facial expressions and body language. Her satirical works challenge patriarchal power structures by caricaturing male behaviour and reversing traditional roles.
József Készman