The Witch’s House is exquisitely alluring, dangerous, the subject of story and rumor. We dare not impudently approach the front door without invitation, so we must sneak quietly around corners, peering furtively into large windows partially obscured by heavy curtains, hoping to catch a glimpse of the shadowy interior. The nature of this hidden world is deliciously murky; there are languid figures draped over Victorian chaises longue, stern mistresses in veils and high neck collars, sweet demure faces, naked women with perfect, fleshy curves, fetishes we cannot determine or understand.
This is a world of secret rites: a baptism, a sacrifice, domination, sex. We have discovered a clandestine domain of commanding women, self-possessed, seeking pleasure on their own terms. This is a world of opulent sensuality, of sapphic pleasures, of dominance and submission. Is this an alternative history, a fantasy, a time out of time? As we observe with wicked delight, we must be mindful that we are watchers here, hidden from view, and our position is most precarious.
In The Witch’s House Ilona Szalay has created a world of beautiful restraint and control out of which spills a bold and uninhibited sexual spirit. The viewer is invited to reflect on what women might do in their own space, unfettered from the world and concerns of men. Yet this is not an egalitarian matriarchal paradise, it is a place of power, ritual, and dark sexuality.
- Amy Hale

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