Suplement

Monika Drozynska is an artist and an activist. Using words and embroidery, she comments on stereotypes about migrants and migrant women, drawing attention to cultural and linguistic differences and the relationship between “us” and “them.” Her works are known by pertinent word games and original form – hand embroideries on fabrics, inspired by the aesthetics of illegal inscriptions on walls in public spaces. The Emigration Museum will show three large-format works, shaped like tablecloths. Written on fabric, the stories have the character of reportage and are based on the artist’s own migration experiences and conversations she has had with migrants.  

Monika Drozynska’s first work, “ UAPLGB ” – a sculpture made of cotton fabric with hand embroidered “Ariadne” thread, will majestically hang from the ceiling in the lobby of the Marine Station.

The fabric will feature a composition of three letters: the Ukrainian letter ͐, the Polish letter J and the letter X, representing the English language. The letters abstracted from the alphabets combine to form a single sign. They form what is known as a “metisage” – reassembling the text after it was previously broken down. In this way, each of the extracted letters carries a new meaning.  

The next two works called ” ĄĘŻĆĘŻĄŁ ” from the “Tablecloths” series, which will be presented in the last room of the permanent exhibition, are textiles embroidered with sign language iconography, prison tattoo symbolism, Morse code, Braille, road signs, evacuation signs , iconography of systems, logos of corporations, graphics illustrating social movements, Georgian alphabet, Arabic alphabet, or graphic representations of constellations.

These unusual tablecloths are a multi-component essay, depicting table fellowship and shared experiences. In Polish, a tablecloth (“tablecloth” in Polish) was originally called a cloth. “Brusić” or “bruzanie” is Old Polish for rubbing. Thus, in the tablecloth, texts, signs, images and communities rub together.