Cecilia Malik (born 1975), Wild Beauty - Blue swimsuit from the series ,Fashion for Rivers ; 2019.

Eu 38
Signature on label: #savemyrivers; author's logo for sisters of the rivers/ CECYLIA MALIK

Polish artist, performer, environmental activist, educator, curator of contemporary art, academic lecturer, filmmaker. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow where she received a diploma with distinction in the studio of Prof. Leszek Misiak and postgraduate curatorial studies at the Jagiellonian University. In 2002 she was awarded the scholarship of the Mayor of the City of Cracow for Young Artists. She co-founded the "Art Farm", an art institution that is a common platform for artists and curators. Founder of the Center for Contemporary Art Squirrel, collectives: Mothers of Polish Women in Logging and Sisters of the River. In 2018, she was awarded the Katarzyna Kobro Prize. She is the author of "6 Rivers" (2012), "Paradise on Earth" (2015) and "Sister Rivers" (2021). In her work, Cecilia Malik combines happening and performance with themes dedicated to community building and attention to the environment. Her works have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, the Zderzak gallery, the Bunkier Sztuki gallery in Krakow, the University of Rochester in the USA, the Krakow House in Nuremberg, the Kunstverein zu Assenheim and the Abbey Museum in Tyniec, among others. The artist's works can be found, among others, in the collection of the Bunkier Art Gallery or the Museo de Arte Contenporared de Castilla y Leon as well as many private collections at home and abroad.

The "WILD BEAUTY" swimsuit comes from the "Fashion for Rivers" campaign and the author of the sequin embroidery is the originator herself - artist Cecylia Malik. For two months in the spring of 2019, a total of about 70 people prepared embroidered slogans in defense of rivers on 140 unique swimsuits. The idea behind the campaign was to spread knowledge about rivers with an emphasis on preserving them in their natural state, as only a wild river will be clean and alive. On outfits obtained second-hand (in the spirit of recycling), the River Sisters (but also the Creek Brothers) embroidered with sequins or cordon slogans such as "You won't stop the river," "Stop E-40," "Wild and beautiful," "Don't wash the water," "The Bug loves you," "Let's save the Biebrza," and "Stop Siarzewo." During a galley rafting trip on the Vistula River, in July 2019, the River Sisters organized fashion shows "with meaning" popularizing important river demands. In Warsaw, they went in costume to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Inland Navigation, where they delivered the appeal of the Save the Rivers Coalition. The final show took place in Hel. "Fashion for Rivers" photo shoots appeared in major women's magazines i.e. "High Heels", "Vogue", but also in "Forbes" magazine where the River Sisters were named one of the most influential women in 2019.
Swimsuit "WILD BEAUTY" is, as Cecilia Malik calls her happenstance props - an object of unruly, unique costume, which took part in the most important actions and photo shoots of "Fashion for Rivers".