In December 2021, male and female activists carried out an action in the space of the city of Poznan, wrapping monuments of human figures with thermal film. This was to draw attention to the drama of people who spent the winter in the forests on the border. Without being able to apply for international protection, they often paid the ultimate price of this systemic violence.
Katarzyna Wąsowska and Michal Sita documented the above action, and the results of their work can be seen at the Art Haven.
"Wrapping the human figures from the Poznan monuments - including Magdalena Abakanowicz's Unrecognized - on a winter night in a "foil of life" was to remind us of the people freezing in the Polish forests on the border with Belarus, who were prevented from applying for international protection. The Polish government, by ordering the deportation of men, women and children to the wilderness and swamps, has put us - citizens and citizens - in a very difficult moral position: passive witnesses to systemic violence. Such protest actions can be read as a resounding "not in my name," write UAM Prof. Dr. Natalia Bloch and UAM Prof. Dr. Izabella Main - UAM Center for Migration Studies.
Photos: Katarzyna Wąsowska and Michal Sita - Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology UAM.
Comments: prof. UAM dr. Natalia Bloch and prof. UAM dr. Izabella Main - Center for Migration Research at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, June 2022
