Sisters of the Rivers & Grazyna Smalej (1976), Black swimsuit from the series , "Fashion for the Rivers" with the inscription "save rivers"; 2019, embroidery with cordon on fabric - Grazyna Smalej

Eu 36
Signed: left side on label: #savetherivers; Sisters of Rivers logo.

Sisters of Rivers - an ecofeminist collective, established by artist and performer Cecylia Malik in 2018, whose goal is to amplify the voice in defense of natural rivers and against regulation and dam building, by organizing happenings and art campaigns in support of experts from the Save the Rivers Coalition and the Greenmind Foundation. Cecylia Malik is the author of the concept for the happenings, and she invites other artists, artists and activists from all over Poland to co-create the events.
Since 2018, the River Sisters have organized numerous happenings, accompanied by substantive speeches and appeals with the participation of experts. In 2019, the "Fashion for Rivers" recycled swimsuit collection shows they prepared were combined with the dissemination of knowledge about the river.
A film "River Sisters" directed by Cecilia Malik (2021) was made about the collective.
A huge exhibition of the River Sisters' work, entitled Don't chase the river, took place at the CCA Wiewiórka in Krakow in 2020. The collective, together with Cecilia Malik, also took part in many presentations at art institutions, including the performance "Rivers unite people shelter" during the Narrations festival in Gdansk.


The "Save rivers" swimsuit is from the "Fashion for rivers" campaign and was embroidered by Sister River Grazyna Smalej, a painter. For two months, about 70 people prepared embroidered slogans in defense of rivers on 140 unique swimsuits. The idea of the campaign was to spread knowledge about rivers with an emphasis on preserving them in their natural state, as only a wild living river will be clean. On outfits obtained second-hand (in the spirit of recycling), the River Sisters embroidered with sequins or cordon slogans such as "You won't stop the river," "Stop E-40," "Wild and beautiful," "Don't wash the water," "Bug loves you," "Let's save the Biebrza," and "Stop Siarzewo." During a galley rafting trip on the Vistula River in July 2019, the River Sisters organized fashion shows "with meaning" popularizing important demands for rivers. In Warsaw, they went in costume to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Inland Navigation, where they delivered the appeal of the Save the Rivers Coalition. The final show took place in Hel. "Fashion for rivers" photo shoots appeared in major women's magazines, i.e. "High Heels", "Vogue", but also in "Forbes" magazine where the Rivers Sisters were ranked among the most influential women in 2019.
The "Save rivers" swimsuit is, as Cecilia Malik calls her protest props, an object of unruliness, which Sister River Katarzyna Basza wore during the March for the Oder on August 21, 2022 in Warsaw.