Sensuality and Strangeness in the Work of Alina Szapocznikow

Who? Sensual, discomfiting, and politically charged, Polish sculptor Alina Szapocznikow’s art is often understood through the events of her turbulent life. As a Jew growing up in Poland during World War Two, Szapocznikow (pronounced ‘shuh-potch-ni-koff’) spent most of her teenage years in Nazi ghettos and concentration camps including Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. After surviving the Holocaust and enduring the loss of family members, Szapocznikow trained as a…