Marge Monko

This project is inspired by a small scandal in the city of Tartu, triggered by a story published in the daily newspaper ‘Postimees’ on January 31, 1905. In one of the articles from a series titled ‘Free Love,’ Jaan Tõnisson, editor-in-chief of the newspaper, mentioned the case of schoolgirls who, after participating in a meeting with Russian socialist students, engaged in liberal relations with the young men. In describing the story, Tõnisson used the term “brown-skirts,” directly referencing the uniform of Pushkin’s Girls Gymnasium in Tartu. This institution was one of the first secular schools accessible to young women at the time. The group of girls referenced in the article consisted of activists who were later expelled from the school due to their political involvement.

In the context of Tõnisson’s article, “free love” is portrayed as a kind of new trend, driven by women’s liberation and the spread of socialist ideas.

The work includes facsimiles of the original article published in ‘Postimees’, a vintage postcard depicting the school building of Pushkin’s Girls Gymnasium, and a photo panel depicting 10 female graduates at the graduation ceremonies of two gymnasiums in Tartu in 2013.

Do I Know What It Is, From Which None Can Escape brings together a series of photographs depicting lost gloves on the streets of Tallinn, and the found photos of human hands. The so-called “gloves’ season” in Estonia lasts relatively long, from October to April. Especially towards spring, one can notice many lost gloves, which lie on the ground, or are placed in a visible position by passersby.

Gloves are immediately connected to hands, protecting them from cold or dirt, and there’s a trace of human touch in the gloves. A single glove on the street signifies loss but also care, especially when observing the creative and sometimes humorous ways that passersby have displayed them so the owners can find them again. The photos of gloves and vintage images of hands are a kind of interplay of the notions of lost and found, and of precarity and care.

The title of the work is a quote from the Estonian writer Viivi Luik, whose poems often deal with the changing seasons and the human psyche.

Design and construction of the vitrine: Kaisa Sööt

The installation consists of a vitrine that contains different elements: an iPhone, rocks, and photographs. The advertisement photos depict a female hand holding up a diamond and a birth control pill respectively. The gneiss rocks picked from the Tallinn seaside support a photograph of Greek prehistoric fertility statues and an iPhone displaying a birth control reminder app. The design of the vitrine is derived from the shape of a diamond. The title of the work is inspired by Lina Bo Bardi’s essay Stones Against Diamonds, from 1947, in which the architect and designer writes about her preference for semi-precious stones over gold, pearls, and diamonds. The installation seeks to reflect upon the battle of values in the global marketplace: luxurious lifestyle versus equal opportunities, individualism versus collectivism, (female) independence versus motherhood, etc.

This site-specific work printed on half-transparent window film appropriates a photo from a hosiery advertisement by Cameo Stockings, circa the 1970s. Similarly to Flawless, Seamless I, it depicts hands as presentation tools to demonstrate the qualities of a product, in this case the elasticity and sheerness of the stocking. The carefully manicured hands in contact with the material also suggest a fair amount of desire embedded in the image.