“Companions” by Bianca Lingwild

Everyone needs someone or something in their life to help bear the burden of existence. Companionship day and night or just for a moment, and of course there is that one person with whom you desperately try to coordinate your free time, only to meet, if you’re lucky, just once every six months.

This exhibition, “Companions,” was inspired by the recent pandemic, during which the concept of companionship was redefined, including the enormous increase in four-legged friends in the neighborhood.

Some of the artworks are on handmade paper and are mounted on homemade and repurposed frames. It is a first foray into acrylic markers, culminating in an exploration of glue and found materials.

Bianca Lingwild, Artist

Bianca Lingwild is a Berlin-based artist who has been exhibiting a wide range of works in queer spaces and club settings since 2024.Inspired by the shifting social relationships during the pandemic and the period that followed, the artist creates a series of imaginative companions that question the need to escape loneliness, to share thoughts and space, as well as the significance of community as a fundamental condition of human existence.

In a playful style, the artwork presents a spectrum of colorful figures, with a subtle reference to Berlin’s diversity. By situating the exhibition in this city, the project also reflects a post-pandemic reality characterized by a fast-paced life that often suspends or delays meaningful connections. The project’s complexity also makes room for the human-animal relationship, positioning our four-legged companions as an anchor of closeness in the context of contemporary life.

The series’ additional interpretation has a specific connection to the queer community and invites us to ask ourselves how we deal with community and belonging—or whether we, too, fall into queer loneliness in our own relationship patterns.