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Olek's Crochet Apartment is a 2011 installation that combines hand-made crocheted yarn in an array of colors. Pink, yellow, purple and orange, fill and cover the space from floor to ceiling. Olek (born 5 April 1978, full name Agata Oleksiak) has many notable works that have landed her the nickname “Crocheted Olek.” Among them is this Crochet Apartment exhibit titled I do not expect to be a mother but I do expect to die alone in Tony’s Gallery in London, UK. It is her first solo exhibition. The piece also has a companion video called Come play with me. The crochet masterpiece is exquisite in that it covers every square inch of the room and every surface. Our eyes are drawn to the typography, which is crocheted onto pillows, bed frames, walls and objects. It is an exhibit full of disarray, cluster and chaos.

Design
The room is a replica of Olek’s personal apartment in London, which was recreated by the gallery to house the exhibit. Crochet camouflage covers almost every surface of the apartment. The text based piece parades vulgar messages in crochet type weaved into the camouflage design. Olek’s trademark camouflage, originally generated in New York City, stems from her personal perspective toward how we view and judge the people around us. Olek claims in a 2013 interview: “I transformed the human form into a new species. Once encapsulated in the hand-crocheted suit, you are a citizen of my world that doesn’t pay attention to skin, race, color, ethnicity or sexuality.”

Themes and motifs
The exhibit is both playful and meaningful. One could describe it as an adult’s playground. The explicit messages displayed throughout the room are actual SMS text messages sent to her. Amidst these messages are ones such as “I WANT 2 B ON TOP OF U RIGHT NOW,” and “I PASSED OUT. I THINK I CAME FIRST THOUGH,” which comment on modern day language and sexuality. As a female installation, performance, sculpture, and fiber artist Olek’s fun and lively creations also serve as reflections of the world around her from her perspective toward sexist opinion. In 2009, she stated:

"'I think crochet, the way I create it, is a metaphor for the complexity and interconnectedness of our body and its systems and psychology. The connections are stronger as one fabric as opposed to separate strands, but, if you cut one, the whole thing will fall apart. Relationships are complex and greatly vary situation to situation. They are developmental journeys of growth, and transformation. Time passes, great distances are surpassed and the fabric which individuals are composed of compiles and unravels simultaneously.'"

Although her work seems to have an inherent, feminist association because crochet/knitting it typically considered a “women’s task,” Olek claims that it is not envisioned to be feminist. However, her art does comment on sexuality because how we view each other and art is hazed by a feministic view because of how we choose to view the world.

Role As performance art
The work also serves as a performance piece; performers who physically participate in the show wear Olek’s crochet body suits, shielding their identity. Viewers are allowed to roam freely throughout the room (with plastic bags covering their shoes) where they can then either discover and interact with objects freely or be lead to things by influence of the crochet beings.

Artist background influence
Olek was born in Poland and graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland with a degree in cultural studies. She later moved to the United States where she now resides in New York, New York. Her Polish background has contributed to her since of self and her work. Unlike in Poland where people considered her choice to wear bright hand-made clothing comedic, her move to the United States—specifically New York City—encouraged expression and individuality in every form. Her participation in street art as well as gallery exhibits all carry a shared interior monologue, which advocates people’s rights and the belief that everyone deserves the liberty to live and love in their own way. “Ideas are collaborations between environment and time. It is when these collaborations come to the surface that others decide to either accept and tolerate or to discriminate,” says Olek.

Her art—and therefore her message—has been exhibited all over the world, including but not limited to, The United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, France, Italy, Poland, and Costa Rica.