Przerwane Historia: Interrupted History

2025

Digital photographs on matte paper

HD single channel video, 1:37

Przerwane Historia: Interrupted History aims to examine the notion of postmemory, investigating the ways in which embodied memories of transgenerational trauma impact the cultural identity of Polish migrants and their descendants. Adopting Marianne Hirsch’s definition of postmemory as ‘the relationship that the “generation after” bears to the personal, collective, and cultural trauma of those who came before’, I use self-portraiture and digital compositing techniques to visually represent my fractured cultural identity and disconnection from my family history. By rephotographing images and texts sourced from family archives, I aim to establish a material connection to my family’s past as an act of postmemorial healing. The act of creating the video became an embodied, re-engagement with the process of dyeing eggs during Easter. This is a custom I participated in as a child; however, after my grandpa passed away and my grandma became ill my family gradually stopped engaging in it. Involving my family in a shared act of rememberance and reflection, revealing the potential for healing through relational re-engagement with customs, traditions and family narratives. 

Przerwane Historia: Interrupted History was exhibited at the RMIT IDEA Gallery in 2025.

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