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Attached to the rear side of the object is a sheet of tin bearing a negative reproduction of an engraving by Anton Möller (mirror -image copy of the work reproduced under a CC license: Folk Celebration near Malbork, 1587. Collection: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany), one of the most important artists associated with Gdańsk at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The engraving depicts a festive gathering near Malbork, where representatives of different social classes come together. Initially, however, this image remains invisible to the viewer, as it is positioned on the reverse side of the structure.

The work takes the form of a visual assemblage whose central element is a chrome bathroom cabinet from the 1960s. An object associated with everyday rituals and looking into a mirror is transformed into a structure for constructing new meanings, visual relationships, and contexts that connect different historical narratives.

Oversized eyes covered with silver metal leaf are attached to the cabinet's exterior surface. They reverse the conventional relationship of observation: it is no longer the viewer who looks at the object, but rather the object that appears to be looking back at the viewer. Yet what is hidden is the most important aspect of the work. Inside the cabinet are enlarged acrylic gums and teeth—the titular motif of the piece—concealed within its interior like a relic or a grotesque talking face.

The work addresses relationships with ancestors and the ways in which connections to what has been inherited are maintained. The ancestors' teeth function as a metaphor for memory, continuity, and care. At the top of the object there is also an oversized silver toothbrush whose bristles are made from meadow grasses, while its handle is shaped from the imprint of a hand gripping it. This element refers to the gesture of repeatedly performed labour, physical effort, and repetition, continuing until the original form of an object becomes deformed. The grasses, in turn, evoke the contexts of manual work, agriculture, and the experiences of previous generations that make a contemporary perspective on the world possible. 

This work was exhibited as part of the exhibition From Where You Stand (May–September 2026), at the Gdańsk City Gallery, Centre for Contemporary Art, in Gdańsk, curated by Gabriela Warzycka-Tutak.

Brush Your Ancestor's Teeth

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