"The sun will stop shining when Polish children go hungry" (Słońce w Polsce przestanie świecić, gdy głodne będą polskie dzieci), with this slogan textile workers, mostly women, took to the streets in Łódź in 1981. They were protesting against rising food prices and undignified working conditions. The protest became known as the "Hunger March". Earlier, in 1971, women had gone on strike against wage cuts. These very important events for all working people in Poland became the subjects of my paintings.

The other paintings show my father, who emigrated from a small town in eastern Poland to the US in the 1980s and stayed there after the fall of the Wall. Although he studied in Poland, he worked as an unskilled worker in the USA without social security. I try to use images to reflect on the history of migration that has shaped my family and me. I myself studied in Berlin (2013-16) and have been living and working in Germany again since 2021. My position as a second generation migrant in the West is crucial for me to understand and critically analyse contemporary societies where prosperity is based on cheap nature and cheap labor.

Some of my older paintings under: Drawings (2005-2011).

zofia_nierodzinska_Jurek%20i%20Tadziek_acrylic%20paint%20on%20cotton_150_200_cm_2024 Jurek and Romek on the construction side, 200/150 cm, acryl on cotton, 2023 Jurek as a background of not his house, 200/150 cm, acryl on cotton, 2023 Jurek as a migrant worker, 150/120 cm, acryl on cotton, 2023 The sun in Poland will stop to shine, 150/130 cm, acryl on cotton, 2023 Textilworkers' gang, 170/130 cm, acryl on cotton, 2023 wloczniarka_rysunek_olowek_papier_20:20cm_2023 Catering_pierwsza_praca_nierodzinska_2023 LOT_Jurek_leci_do_USA_nierodzinska_2023 HOME_nierodzinska_2023 Polska_odebrala_nam_prawa_nierodzinska_2023 First_Job_z_nierodzinska Building_a_House_There_Dreaming_of_Home_Here_Zofia_nierodzinska Dreaming_of_Blue_Migrants_Zofia_nierodzinska