In the 8th edition of the project for outstanding students of the University of the Arts Poznan, as before, the choice of the designate of THE OTHER rested with the eponymous young people. This year’s participants were decided nearly from the word go. Zuzanna wanted to focus on the Deaf, while Karolina on the Boykos and the Lemka, driven out of their native lands during the Vistula campaign, their traces to be found e.g. in Eastern Carpathians. Both Zuzanna’s frank empathy and Karolina’s compassionate research interests made a powerful, positive impression on us, the mentors and supervisors of the project.
The meetings would take place on an off for a few months, yet the participants’ genuine commitment propelled the work, which proceeded pretty fast. The young artists had a bunch of ideas and would lend an ear to the mentors’ suggestions, even if in line with the rules of The Poles project they were not obliged to do so. Therefore, they made a number of independent decisions, which is one of the project’s core principles.
In terms of the visuals they were a perfect match and shared the gallery exhibition room. Their dialogue has been a conversation rather than an argument. Both apply subtle measures, which results in a coherent exhibition involving light forms, symbols, and indeterminacies. All the artists’ actions contribute to the tangible air of care for THE OTHER, speak out for the memory of the Lemka driven out of their homes and advocate the rights of the Deaf, who continue to be relegated to the social side-lines and doomed to actual and figurative silence.
Zuzanna Bandosz by recording in an unconventional manner sounds on textiles, she wished to give voice to the Deaf and, in her own words, ‘express their wish to make their needs more visible in our society’. Apart from the show, Zuzanna started cooperating with the Józef Sikorski Special School and Education Centre for Deaf Children in Poznań, where she held workshop sessions.
Karolina Piotrowska made a wooden model of a traditional trembita, a magnificent shepherds’ instrument used e.g. by the Boykos driven away in 1947. The trembita was used to summon help in emergencies. Karolina also displayed her poetic photographs, portraying territories inhabited by the Lemka community prior to their eviction.
The starting point for the dialogue between the young artists is the desire to speak out for a victimised community. Zuzanna and Karolina speak on behalf of those who cannot speak themselves. Both do it metaphorically and without a shout, yet I am confident that they are able to reach out to all those recipients who, like them, are empathetic and ready to open up to THE OTHER. Hopefully, they will be able to move the others, too.
Bogna Błażewicz
mentoring and supervision: Bogna Błażewicz (Arsenał Municipal Gallery), Natalia Czarcińska, Dorota Tarnowska-Urbanik (Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts, Poznan)
