By Rupert Mercer
An artist found guilty of unlawful wounding without intent has protested against the conviction with her own unusual artwork.
Olek, a Polish artist famous for giving New York’s “Charging Bull” statue a crocheted suit, has erected four vast woolen installation pieces on the Village Underground building on Great Eastern Street.
Each piece bears part of Martin Luther King’s famous quote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and represents a statement against the racial prejudice she felt she was subjected to at the time of her arrest.
She told the Hackney Post: “The work was originally intended to protest against slavery but there are parallels with my situation. Every police officer I dealt with asked me where I am from. Why does that matter? In court nearly all of the names to be tried were foreign.”
Olek’s protest relates to an incident on 6 October last year when she smashed a glass over the head of a Russian man she claims was trying to assault her: “I instinctively punched out with my right hand not thinking about the glass in my hand. I hit him, the glass broke. The intention was to defend myself.”
On the work itself, Olek said: “Street art is for everyone and reflects the society that views it … Hackney is a largely foreign area and so I think what I have to say is relevant.”
The piece was made after Olek had been found guilty and was waiting for her sentencing, which has been delayed to 19 November. The Crown has asked for a jail sentence of five years.
