DYBY

Although of human appearance, this headless and hollow form suggests suffering and vulnerability. Indeed, DYBY is titled for a type of torture device. Abakanowicz’s oeuvre was shaped by her own lived experience of the horrors of World War II and its aftermath in Poland under Nazi and Soviet occupation. The haunting figure and gallows-like structure it sits upon do not convey a specific narrative or context, but rather serve as broad metaphors for the human experience.