Five Polish Artists Confront Race and Ethnicity in Solo Exhibitions Across Europe
Tomasz Basiuk's essay delves into the ways five modern Polish artists—Adam Adach, Przemek Branas, Irena Kalicka, Karol Radziszewski, and Radek Szlaga—tackle themes of race and ethnicity in their recent solo exhibitions. Their approaches encompass everything from promoting visibility to employing irony, reflecting Poland's traditionally uniform society. In 2015, Radziszewski showcased portraits of August Agbola O'Browne in his 'Ali' exhibition, while Kalicka's 2015 presentation ignited debate due to her use of blackface. Adach's 2012 work 'Representation' examined race in the context of the UEFA European Championship. Szlaga's 2015 exhibit 'All the Brutes' focused on African American identity, and Branas's 2019 'I Is Somebody Else' was analyzed through lenses of class and race. The reception of their art reveals ongoing issues in discussions about race in Poland.
Key facts
- The essay analyzes five Polish artists: Adam Adach, Przemek Branas, Irena Kalicka, Karol Radziszewski, and Radek Szlaga.
- Exhibitions occurred in Warsaw, Cracow, and Birmingham between 2012 and 2019.
- Karol Radziszewski's 2015 'Ali' show at BWA Gallery portrayed August Agbola O'Browne, a Black Warsaw Uprising participant.
- Irena Kalicka's 2015 exhibition at F.A.I.T. Gallery used blackface, sparking protests when promoted for Trans*Festival.
- Adam Adach's 2012 'Representation' exhibition referenced colonial history and homophobia through works like 'Incarnata'.
- Radek Szlaga's 2015 'All the Brutes' at Leto Gallery explored African American identity with self-ironic works like 'Cliché'.
- Przemek Branas's 2019 show at Centrala featured 'Długi,' a sculpture interpreted through class in Poland but race in the UK.
- Poland's ethnic homogeneity stems from the Shoah, lack of colonies, and low non-white immigration, shaping artistic engagements.
Entities
Artists
- Adam Adach
- Przemek Branas
- Irena Kalicka
- Karol Radziszewski
- Radek Szlaga
- August Agbola O'Browne
- Benedykt Joachim Chmielowski
- Pablo Picasso
- Joseph Conrad
- Francis Ford Coppola
- Christopher Wool
- Wilhelm Sasnal
- Claude Lanzmann
- Józef Klotz
- Ernest Wilimowski
- Ricardo Roque
- Tomasz Basiuk
- Konrad Schiller
- Michał Suchora
- Sebastian Gawłowski
- Anna Bartosiewicz
- Arek Gruszczyński
- Tomasz Plata
- Dominik Kuryłek
- Wojciech Szymański
- Magdalena Ujma
- Michał Różyc
Institutions
- BWA Gallery
- Leto Gallery
- F.A.I.T. Gallery
- Profile Foundation Gallery
- Queer Archive Institute
- Centrala
- Culture for Tolerance
- Trans-Fuzja
- Fundacja Razem Pamoja
- Central Textile Museum
- Science Museum
- UEFA
- ARTMargins Online
- Czas kultury
- Dwutygodnik
- Szum art magazine
- World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace
Locations
- Warsaw
- Poland
- Cracow
- Birmingham
- United Kingdom
- Belgium
- France
- Lagos
- Nigeria
- Brazil
- Sweden
- Nairobi
- Kenya
- Lisbon
- Portugal
- Coimbra
- Timor Island
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Vietnam
- Belgian Congo
- Florence
- Italy
- Łódź
- Detroit
- United States
- Southeast Asia
- Czechoslovakia
- Hungary