I Love You is an over two-minute recording of an action carried out in 2016 by Jana Shostak. The artist was buying a scratch card called 'I love you' at kiosks and LOTTO outlets. At the checkout, she deliberately mentioned only the name of the lottery, which could be read at first as a confession of feelings. She documented the reactions of the saleswomen with a hidden camera.

Twelve women appear in the film. Some of the saleswomen hand over the corresponding lottery tickets without hesitation, automatically recognising in the artist's words the name of the scratch-off lottery for one zloty. Some smile or comment sympathetically on the ambiguity of the phrase (e.g. "As if they all love each other like that, no? They spoke so nicely. That would be good, not some kind of war"). The young cashier laughingly responds to the artist with the same words, and for a moment they both take turns saying "I love you".

Shostak provokes different reactions with a simple gesture. She also takes the opportunity to show the everyday life of the saleswomen - cramped kiosks, piles of products, colourful advertisements - as well as the ritual of buying scratch cards, i.e. arranging the cartons in a fan so that the buyer can choose the lucky ticket himself.

In 2017, the artist received the first prize for her film at the In Out Festival organised by the Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art in Gdańsk.

Karolina Dzimira-Zarzycka