PANDORA’S BOX OF FORBIDDEN WORDS, 2016
Photography, Giclée print, 87 x 69 CM, Editio: 5+1AP

Hesiod described Pandora’s box as a large, earthenware storage jar. For Erasmus it was a
portable caddy. Today it is a red plexiglas box.
Maria-Magdalena Ianchis takes Hesiod’s original story further by inviting us to collect up the
evils that have escaped back then. Her focus is on “forbidden”
words – words that carry a historical burden, are euphe- mistic, discriminatory.
In short, terms which are no longer politically correct.
Or even words which are politically correct but do not make sense; neither serve a situation
nor can resolve it. On the other hand, there are interesting expressions and they have an
enormous positive charge for society.
But it seems we cannot remember whether they are left like empty cocoons. Ultimately, they
are just used in a vague and senseless way.
Ianchis’ version of the box, is part of a series in which the artist reinterprets
old myths and reenacts herself in each case.
“The effect is quite different when I fnd myself directly confronted with a legend of serious
consequence.”
(Text: Ruth Horak)