She Was a Friend of Someone Else

She was a friend of someone else was made in a country where women have limited access to reproductive healthcare, and where abortion is now illegal. Despite immense protests, women were simply denied their rights. The project started with the idea that women could come together and, without shame or fear, publicly share that they’ve had an abortion, and that this collective act would change the law.

It could be an activist success story. But She was a friend of someone else is a story with too many beginnings, too few endings – and an exhausted narrator.

In this production, Gosia Wdowik explores the link between burnout and activism: the fear that rights can be taken away, and that the moment one’s attention falters, the risk of them disappearing is realised. Through a personal narrative, she describes the commitment to women's rights in Poland. Through subtle choreography, we are drawn into the life of a woman who decides one day, instead of protesting, to stay in bed, only to eventually come out again.

Premiered in May 2023 in Brussels, Kunstenfestivaldesarts.