Magdalena Dukiewicz’s installation Oscillations integrates the artist’s own blood and hair with copper rods and medical equipment. Dukiewicz repurposes breathing tubes previously used by her mother during her illness. These tubes are submerged in an orange-red liquid, evocative of blood, housed within a transparent container. An air pump intermittently breathes air into the tubes, causing the liquid to rise and fall, mimicking the rhythms of respiration. Dukiewicz incorporates her own blood and hair in the work as an expression of reclaiming bodily autonomy in response to the societal and political urge to control and define womxn’s identities. The circulation of blood-like fluid throughout the installation reflects the exchange of power, and how autonomy can be both relinquished and regained. Asserting her bodily agency, Dukiewicz employs her body and hair on her terms, explicitly challenging external forces— be they societal norms, technological systems, or institutional power and suppression—that seek to confine the body and define identity. Through the interplay of organic and mechanical elements, Oscillations encourage contemplation on the forces that shape our sense of self and our relationships. It speaks to the resilience required to navigate and negotiate personal autonomy. More specifically, it reflects the vulnerability and endurance of the female body, and connection with the mother, like the symbolic umbilical cord that inculcates and nourishes generations of a patriarchal oppressive system into our veins.