Gita Blak | Connect the Dots
Connect the Dots, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots: colophon, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots: Angela Davis, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots: Emelia Plater, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots: Miss Major, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots: Nada Dimic, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots: Rosa Luxemburg, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots: Nadezhda Krupskaya, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press
Connect the Dots: Celia Sanchez, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots: Kathleen Cleaver, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots: Captain Lakshmi, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots: Ani Pachen, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots: Blanca Canales, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots: Laskarina Bouboulina, 2019
Polymer relief print on Arches Cover
13 x 18 inches
Edition of 30
Printed by Ruth Lingen at Line Press Ltd
Connect the Dots, 2019
Historical biographies card
Connect the Dots by Željka Blakšic´ started as a drawing game made for a Game Night series of free public events presenting artist-made games, organized by Sheetal Prajapati and Anna Harsanyi at Soho20 Gallery in New York City in 2017. This series explored the theme of feminist politics. Founded in 1973, Soho20 Gallery supports women in the arts. Participants were invited to connect the dots in order to reveal and discover a female revolutionary portrait. All the women represented in the series of prints played a pivotal role in their community and later society; as activists, theorists, educators and politicians in launching the revolution or bringing in a monumental social change that enriched the lives of many. Here we remember them and celebrate their bravery, selflessness, dedication and complexity.
Željka Blakšić AKA Gita Blak
Born in Zagreb, Croatia (ex-Yugoslavia) in 1983, Željka Blakšić AKA Gita Blak moved to New York City in 2007. She creates performances, 16mm films, videos, prints, and public interventions. In 2010 she received her Master of Fine Arts with Distinction from the School of Visual Arts, in the Photography, Video and Related Media Department. Her interdisciplinary practice is often inspired by the sub-culture of the 1990s-era in Croatia when punk, anarchy, and eco-movements were having a renewal. Resistance manifested itself through the cooperation and gathering of various alternative social groups. This experimental environment became a university of rebellion–a key force, giving voice to new expressions of democracy, justice, common values, and free speech.
Blakšić has exhibited extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe. Her recent performances and exhibitions were presented at Filmwerkstatt Düsseldorf (Germany), Framer Framed (Amsterdam), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Herzliya Museum (Herzliya), Gallery Augusta (Helsinki), Los Sures Museum (New York), Recess (New York), AIR Gallery (New York), Offenbachplatz (Cologne), BRIC Contemporary Art Gallery (New York) and many others.
She was a recipient of the 2017 Residency Unlimited & National Endowment for the Arts Award for NYC based artist, 2016 Recess Session Residency and Via Art Fund Grant; 2014/15 AIR Gallery Fellowship in New York, 2012 The District Kunst und Kulturförderung Studio Award in Berlin; 2010 Paula Rhodes Memorial Award in New York City etc. Last year she was a resident at Fondazione Pistoletto in Biella, Italy and MuseumsQuartier in Vienna, Austria. Currently, she is working on a project at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai.
Purchase Connect the Dots Portfolio:
Purchase Nadezhda Krupskaya Print:
Nadezhda Krupskaya (1869–1939) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary, activist and politician who believed that access to an education was a step towards improving people’s lives. She was a historian and a theoretician of educational science in addition to being one of the main organizers of the socialist system of education. She served as the Soviet Union’s Deputy Minister of Education from 1929 until her death in 1939. A committed Marxist, she encouraged the development of a library system in the Soviet Union. She was the wife of Vladimir Lenin from 1898 until his death in 1924.
Purchase Cecilia Sanchez Print:
Celia Sánchez (1920–1980) was a Cuban revolutionary, researcher, and archivist. She played a critical role in starting the Cuban Revolution and then administering the revolutionary state until her death in 1980. She championed the best values of the revolution. A capable organizer, she demonstrated courage in the face of danger, a commitment to transforming society, and a tireless dedication to her people. Sanchez launched parks, literacy programs and a national archive project.
Purchase Kathleen Cleaver Print:
Kathleen Cleaver (1945–present) is an African American law professor, writer and activist born in 1945, Dallas (Texas). She was an influential member of the Black Panther Party and the first female member of the Party’s decision-making body. She served as the communications secretary and the spokesperson from 1967-71. Always unapologetic in her efforts to end systematic injustice, Cleaver has been civil rights activist her entire career. She transformed from a revolutionary to a legal scholar. Cleaver continues her path by engaging in teaching, writing, and film projects that incorporate human rights concerns in US and across the African Diaspora.
Purchase Captain Lakshmi Print:
Captain Lakshmi (1914–2012) was born in Malabar, India. She was a freedom fighter, an officer of the Indian National Army, the Minister of Women’s Affairs and a practicing doctor of medicine. She organized an all-women brigade and became Captain Lakshmi, a name and identity that stayed with her for life. Always unequivocally committed to the ideals of socialism, anti-imperialism, equality, secularism, social justice and women empowerment. In 2012 she was a candidate for the President of India named by four leftist parties.
Purchase Ani Pachen Print:
Ani Pachen (1933–2002) was a freedom fighter and activist, celebrated as the warrior nun who led her Tibetan clan in armed rebellion against the Chinese invaders until she was captured and spent 21 years as a prisoner. Despite the extreme torture she endured at the hands of her captors Ani Pachen never lost her commitment to Buddhist practice. For the rest of her life, her mission was to tell the world about what is happening in Tibet. She published a book based on her life story “Sorrow Mountain: The Journey of a Tibetan Warrior Nun” and participated in numerous freedom marches across the world.
Purchase Blanca Canales Print:
Blanca Canales (1906–1996) was a Puerto Rican revolutionary and educator who helped found Daughters of Freedom, the women’s branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in 1931. She also was one of the organizers of the Jayuya Uprising against the United States in 1950. Afterwards, she was arrested and accused of killing a police officer and burning down the post office. She was sentenced to life imprisonment plus sixty years and served seventeen years until fully exonerated by the Puerto Rican governor. She continued to be an advocate for justice until her death and is celebrated as a hero in resistance to United States’ imperialism.
Purchase Laskarina Bouboulina Print:
Laskarina Bouboulina (1771–1825) is known for her tremendous contribution to the Greek War of Independence in the 19th century. With her passion for the sea and after the death of her second husband she turned her wealth into the foundation of a merchant empire. She was the partner in several trading vessels and soon began having her own built to sail the waters. Bouboulina soon became a member of a secret organization known as Filiki Eteria, which was spreading the idea of a Greek Revolution over the Ottomans. Bouboulina used her fortune to make arms and ships for her country and collect men to fight with her against the enemies. She is a Greek national hero and one of the first women to play such a major role in a revolution.
Purchase Angela Davis Print:
Angela Davis (1944–present) is an American political activist, educator and author. Throughout her life, Davis has advocated for gender equality and prison reform. She became known as a distinguished counterculture activist in the 1960s as she worked alongside the Communist Party USA. During the Civil Rights Movement, Davis worked with the Black Panther Party. During her tenure at the University of California at Santa Cruz, she continued to work as an activist and promote women’s rights and racial justice. She has published books on race, class, and gender, “Are Prisons Obsolete?”, “The Meaning of Freedom”, “Women, Culture & Politics” and many more.
Purchase Emelia Plater Print:
Emilia Plater (1806–1831) was a countess and revolutionary born in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Plater fought in the November 1830 Uprising, an armed revolt from partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire, and became a captain of the Polish insurgent forces. She led soldiers in several engagements in the revolution. She is an iconic heroine in both Poland and Lithuania, the subject of many art pieces, and is often hailed as the “Lithuanian Joan of Arc.”
Purchase Miss Major Print:
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy (1940–present) is an American trans woman, activist for transgender rights, with an emphasis on women of color, veteran of the Stonewall Rebellion. Her efforts as Executive Director for a TGI Justice Project designed to aid transgender persons unfairly incarcerated under the prison-industrial complex, as well as her constant involvement in activist movements have made her an iconic figure in activism today. In addition to her focus on basic human rights, Miss Major built a global legacy of activism and will continue to pave the way for transgender women of color, particularly those who have survived incarceration and police brutality.
Purchase Nada Dimic Print:
Nada Dimić (1923–1942) was born in modern-day Croatia, and joined the Communist Youth when she was 15 years old. When Yugoslavia was invaded during World War II, Dimić joined a Partisan unit in Croatia, but was soon arrested. When she arrived at prison in Zagreb, she swallowed poison to avoid interrogation. It did not kill her, and she was saved by members of the communist party. Shortly after, she began work as an undercover agent for the Partisans, but was eventually caught and imprisoned. When she again refused to reveal any information, she was sent to a concentration camp where she died at age 18. Dimić was named a People’s Hero of Yugoslavia.
Purchase Rosa Luxemburg Print:
Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) was a Polish Marxist theorist, philosopher, anti-war activist and outstanding representative of the European socialist movement. She was one of the few women active in politics in times when prejudice against women in public life was widespread, extending well into the left-wing parties. She and Karl Liebknecht co-founded the anti-war Spartacus League, which eventually became the KPD (the Communist Party of Germany). Luxemburg worked on a humanitarian theory of Marxism, which emphasized democracy and insurgent mass action working towards global socialism. Her struggle against war and radical persistence towards political freedom and social equality are as important today as they were a hundred years ago. She was brutally murdered in 1919 by people who were part of the same crowd that would later support the Nazis.