Sarah Camilla Pekarčíková – Come Back Only When You’re Normal
Exhibition of the graduate of the Department of Printmaking and Other Media
Manor House Moravany nad Váhom
Curators: Fanny Elisabeth Pekarčíková and Hana Ontkocová
By exploring the cult of the polite and obedient girl, its subtle forms of indoctrination, and psychological consequences, the artist reflects on personal experiences that simultaneously correspond to broader collective and social mechanisms. In the experience of hypersensitivity, melancholy, or hysteria, she finds traces of femininity that are often suppressed or pathologized within the cultural and social framework. She perceives the relationship between inner tension and the normalized expectations of society as a dynamic that shapes women’s identity and self-worth. With personal engagement, she observes and points out that gender stereotypes are maintained not only through external pressure but also by women themselves—those who accept, legitimize, or modify them—from “tradwife” to “femcel” communities. The project thus opens up the question of what it means to be a “good girl” at a time when female obedience becomes an aesthetic, ideological, and intimate form of survival.
Sarah Camilla Pekarčíková (*1998) is a visual artist and a graduate of Printmaking and Other Media at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava (2023). Her practice primarily involves painting and printmaking, between which the boundaries are often blurred in her approach. Thanks to her specialization in illustration, her visual language flirts with zine-making and underground illustration. She focuses mainly on sociologically oriented themes such as controversy, norms, culture and its counterforms, femininity, and family. Since her studies, she has been actively involved in the cultural scene and has exhibited in both group and solo shows, for instance at the Tehláreň festival or in her solo exhibition at Station Gallery.
At the Manor House in Moravany nad Váhom, the artist will present her latest works. The opening will include a site-specific performative reading by the collective SHE/HELD.
Opening hours: Friday – Saturday – Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00
For visits outside opening hours, please contact artrooms.moravany@gmail.com