Titel: Monument to Migration: How to Connect History with Memory
Location: MOS, Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland
Artist: Lesia Pcholka
Participants: Zuzanna Hertzberg, Elżbieta Mirga-Wójtowicz, Robert Piotrowski, Monika Kowalska
Curatio: Zofia nierodzińska
Collaboration: Gustaw Nawrocki
"Monument to Migration: How to Connect History with Memory" is a series of events initiated by Lesia Pcholka and Gustaw Nawrocki, and curated by Zofia nierodzińska as part of the Three Seas Festival at MOS in Gorzów Wielkopolski.
On 7.06 (Saturday) the workshop and exhibition by Lesia Pcholka, screening of the film "Memories from the City L." by Grzegorz Kowalski, Monika Kowalska and Zbigniew Sejwa and discussion with Zuzanna Hertzberg, Elżbieta Mirga-Wójtowicz, Lesia Pczolka and Robert Piotrowski moderated by Zofia nierodzinska took place. The workshop and subsequent discussion aimed to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas between people with migration experience and those belonging to ethnic minorities.
The one-day event restored the memory of the multicultural past of Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland and Gorzów Wielkopolski (Landsberg an der Warthe), was about to reflect on the state of migration as a universal condition associated with growing political, social and climate crises. It is not narratives related to return and the preservation of tribal homogeneity, but the migratory melting pot that was the starting point for further reflection. Indeed, careful reflection leads to the conclusion that no one is from here, and we all come from elsewhere.
The workshops were led Lesi Pczołka and inspired by her installation ‘Heavier Than Air’, created from images of women from funeral photographs printed on silk. The photographs were taken in the border areas of Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. It is a work about the disappearance of memory from history. History is a constructed political narrative, commemorating only the names of the main protagonists, while the rest of their lives are often reduced to nameless statistics. Everyday life is overlooked by history.
Artists and researchers, some of whom represent minorities, were invited to participate in the following discussion. Together, we considered how to archive and convey the history of people excluded from mainstream narratives, such as those with a history of migration or belonging to minority groups. We exchanged experiences from our own artistic practices (Pczołka, Hertzberg, nierodzińska), activist practices (Mirga-Wójtowicz, Hertzberg) and research practices (Mirga-Wójtowicz, Hertzberg, Piotrowski, nierodzińska). We tried to construct a narrative that escapes homogenising, nationalist narratives and those based on the preservation of ethnic, identity and class divisions. We recalled the multicultural history of Gorzów, Poland and Eastern Europe, which can be helpful in understanding today's migration movements and an increasingly diverse society. At the same time, we did not forget about the deeply rooted stereotypes and exclusionary strategies that affect minorities living in Poland.
Photos: Sławomir Sajkowski
