Self portrait under the apple tree planted by my great-great grandfather.
Jodłownik, Poland 2023
Beyond the Baltic :
Stories from the Polish Diaspora
I’ve spent most of my time as a photojournalist documenting people and cultures that are foreign to me. That curiosity took an unexpected turn toward my own cultural background where I was surprised to discover it was harder to tell my own story than it was someone else’s. I felt compelled to flip the narrative as an artist, and openly share a vulnerable look into the deeply personal components of my own life. How can I ask that of others if I’m unwilling to confront that discomfort myself?
My recent work, The Lucky Ship and Pożegnanie, explores the grief in losing both of my grandparents, and subsequently the severed connection to my Polish heritage. My focus for those exhibits was to bring the audience into my inner world, walk them through my grandparents’ experience of leaving an entire life behind in Poland, and feel the difficulty of only having an intangible legacy left in their absence. Using photographs, multi-sensory displays and family relics, I encouraged participation in the juxtaposition of pride and pain in an immigrant’s connection to home.
I’m interested in continuing to explore these themes using different mediums, while also incorporating different perspectives and experiences of dual identity. I hope to foster ongoing curiosity surrounding culture, exploration of self inquiry, and empathy for lived experiences different from our own.
Artist in Residence: Exhibits
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The Lucky Ship on view from April 22 - May 30th at Akron Soul Train. Hours of operation are Wednesday - Saturday from 11am - 4pm.
Community storytelling dinner and Polka music! May 30th from 5-8pm at Jilly’s Music Room.
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Exhibition on display May 1 - May 30th at Kent State University’s Design Innovation Hub art gallery.
Community pierogi cooking demo May 1st at the Design Innovation Hub test kitchen at Kent State.
the lucky ship
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the lucky ship 〰️
Fabric panels with collaged family memorabilia, including photos, report cards during German occupation in WWII, Polish marriage certificate, family photos, inventory list from the ship leaving Gdynia in 1968, my grandfather’s first paycheck in the US, my grandmother’s notebooks from her ESL classes.
Map of Poland with laser etched photo into paint of my family the day they left Poland in 1968, original menus in Polish and English from the M.S. Batory, invitation to dine with the ship captain.
Self portrait in a traditional Polish folk costume under the apple tree planted by my great-great grandfather taken on the apple orchard my grandmother grew up on.
Laser etched photo of my grandmother into acrylic paint on my grandfather’s map of Poland.
Nostalgic display includes tic tacs, small lily of the valley card, and my grandmother’s hair comb.
Sheer fabric with inventory list of everything my family left Poland with in three wicker baskets, layered over portrait of my family in front of the MS Batory the day they left Poland for the US in 1968.
Tablescape including my grandmother’s tablecloths, Polish crystal vase with lily of the valley, Polish crystal dish with pisanki (Polish easter eggs), my grandparents’ glasses at their table setting, my grandmother’s cards in a solitaire setup she would always play, my grandfather’s notebook with his record of winning lottery numbers, and my table setting with 3D printed resin pierogi.
Family photos laser etched into acrylic paint on pages from my grandmother’s Polish cookbook.
Portraits I took of my grandparents (and myself) printed on fabric.
Audio of my grandmother reciting her favorite script inscribed on a tombstone she saw in Rakowicki cemetery while living in Kraków, along with these words laser cut into gold and black acrylic mimicking her tombstone.
Display includes her Polish bible, black veil, amber rosary, and a Polish grave lantern.
Pożegnanie
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Pożegnanie -
Resin printed pierogi displayed over fabric printed with collaged letters and postcards my grandmother kept from every time family and friends wrote to her after leaving Poland.
Handmade black denim vest with my grandmother’s handwriting with wnuczka (granddaughter) laser etched above the front pocket, with Polish food illustrations I drew and turned into pins.
Handmade doilies were scanned and turned into digital files that were lasercut into wood and spray painted black, and mounted on the wall.
POLSKI:
Przechodniu
stąpaj głośniej,
mi cisza przeraża
I ta ogromna pustka i ciemność cmentarza.
O choćby raz jeszcze ujrzeć słońce złote
popłakać do woli i czuć
jak serce bije i jak serce boli.
My great-grandmother Agnieszka went into labor after coming back from the cemetery on All Saints’ Day on the night of November 1st, and gave birth to my grandmother the following day.
In an audio interview I had recorded with my grandmother back in 2016, she told me about how she always loved cemeteries - a trait I share with her. When she lived in Kraków, prior to my family’s immigration to Cleveland in 1968, she would walk around the Rakowicki cemetery with my uncle, pushing him in his stroller and reading the tombstones. She told me, after so many years, she still remembered what was written on one of the gravestones. The words that brought her solace would later be the words that gave me peace after her death in 2020. It was a reminder to take advantage of the precious time we have, despite the pain and suffering we experience. After finding the audio recording during the depth of my grief, we had these words inscribed on her gravestone. In 2023, her ashes were finally laid to rest in the cemetery across from the apple orchard she grew up on in Jodłownik, Poland.
English:
Passerby
step louder,
the silence terrifies me
and so does the vast emptiness and darkness of the cemetery.
Oh, to see the golden sun once more,
to cry to my heart's content and to feel
how my heart beats and how my heart aches.
