EXHIBITION BY
MAŁGORZATA MIRGA-TAS
AT THE KUNSTMUSEUM LUZERN
Warsaw Ghetto Museum
The installation “Re-enchanting the World," first presented at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, addresses themes related to Roma history and culture. Twelve large-format textile pieces, each representing a month of the calendar year, draw inspiration from the Renaissance frescoes of the Schifanoia Palace in Ferrara. The artist reinterprets these frescoes by integrating aspects of Roma culture, thereby highlighting figures often overlooked in formal historical narratives. In her artwork, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas collaborates with women from the Roma community, utilising a variety of textiles such as tablecloths, curtains, bed linens, and clothing to construct impactful narratives. This approach not only highlights the daily experiences of the Roma, emphasising their cultural richness, but also seeks to combat prevalent stereotypes.
The artwork "May," part of the collection, portrays Cejla Stojka – a Roma activist, painter and singer, who is a former prisoner of Auschwitz and Krystyna Gil, a survivor of the Roma massacre in Szczurowa. This piece invites contemplation on the potential for artistic expression to facilitate the processing of Holocaust trauma and examines the phenomenon of post-memory among the second and third generations of survivors.
Courtesy of the artist and the following institutions: Frith Street Gallery in London, the Foksal Gallery Foundation in Warsaw, Karma International in Zurich, Bonnefanten in Maastricht, the Collection of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, Kunsthaus Zürich, the Collection of the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, and the Collection of Zachęta – National Gallery of Art.
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On 8 March, the exhibition "Overwhelming the World" was inaugurated at the Kunstmuseum Luzern, featuring a work from the MGW collection entitled "May" by Małgorzata Mirga-Tas.
Małgorzata Mirga-Tas is a Polish-Romani visual artist, painter, sculptor, educator, and activist. She is the founding figure of the Romani Art movement and initiator of the international artist-in-residence programme "Jaw Dikh!".
In 2020, she was honoured with the Polityka Passport Award in the Visual Arts category.