Laia Abril – When the System Fails

1. 1. 2026

Laia Abril, SHRINKY RECIPE, A History of Misogyny, Chapter Two: On Rape, 2021, Courtesy of the Artist

Catalan artist Laia Abril has been working on her meta-project A History of Misogyny for nearly a decade. This work stems from her broader interest in biopolitics and gender (in)equality, topics that run through most of her work. Before fully focusing on photography, Abril studied journalism, and today she mainly works through the method of artistic research. Her approach is fairly systematic: individual photographic projects are grouped into larger thematic units, such as On Sexuality and On Eating Disorders, in which she analyses the various aspects of the given topic in detail.

A History of Misogyny consists of several subprojects in which the artist looks back into history to examine systematic injustice and how it persists today. Among the more extensive of these, works such as On Mass Hysteria, On Abortion, and the most recent, On Rape: And Institutional Failure, have been realised not only as exhibitions but also as books. Abril was led to address the topic of rape by events in 2016, when in Pamplona, a group of five men who called themselves La Manada (The Wolf Pack) raped an eighteen-year-old girl during the San Fermín festival. The initial verdict, which found that the five men had not committed rape but only abuse, sparked massive protests across Spain and a debate on the legal definition of this crime. This case prompted the artist to investigate the myths and stereotypes that contribute to the trivialisation of violent acts and, in doing so, support perpetrators through a system originally intended to protect victims.

Natálie Drtinová

Natálie Drtinová is an art theorist focusing on the intersection of art and social issues. She works in curating, writing, and research. She is currently a PhD student at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts and manages the estate of Anna Zemánková.

Laia Abril

Laia Abril is a multidisciplinary artist working through artistic research with media such as photography, text, video, and sound. Her work is politically engaged and challenges dominant narratives. She is represented in collections including the Centre Pompidou, V&A Museum, Reina Sofía, Photo Elysée, and many others.

#49 Talk Together

This issue explores language – its forms, possibilities, and limits. We look at how we communicate in the digital space, how the language of artificial intelligence changes our notions of creativity, and how visual images can replace words. You will discover why language is never neutral and how it shapes identity, creates inequalities, and opens paths to liberation. The issue features a reflection by bell hooks, the artistic practice of Eszter Magyar, projects documenting the Roma community in Brno, and visual essays by Claudia Larcher and Tabor Robak. The magazine presents language as a tool of communication, power, and resistance and invites you to reflect on what it truly means to talk to one another today.