Flag | Stare Oleszyce, fabric 240x160 cm
The region of today’s southeastern Poland had a diverse, multinational population before World War II. After the deportations of the “WisÅ‚a” action, traces of the Ukrainian culture present in the area gradually disappeared in many nearby villages and towns. The centuries-old neighborhood and very close Polish-Ukrainian relations are marked by a difficult memory and are associated almost automatically with the ethnic conflict of the 1940s. In my work, I try to draw attention to the coexistence of different groups and break the nationalized culture of memory, which creates numerous images of the enemy and makes us forget the former diversity of these areas. For me, weaving is about remembering and weaving history, which was mainly done by women. For me, the work is a reflection on memory, in which the telling of the past is to some extent based on imagination. While weaving, I recreate an old Ukrainian pattern originating from an Greek Catholic church in Stary Oleszyce. The fabric was used as a flag to restore the visibility of forgotten fragments of Ukrainian culture in the territory of modern Poland as an integral part of the common history of both nations. In the video work, I present it in the space of one abandoned Ukrainian Greek Catholic church in Subcarpathia.