The term “Kresy” means “borderlands” (or more literally “edges”) and covers a vast territory of lands that, at some point in history, used to be eastern (or northern) provinces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Second Polish Republic. Geographically, the concept is awfully imprecise, but it usually refers to today's Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, and sometimes Latvia. Paweł Bukowiec (2012) points out that it is difficult to determine where “Kresy” end, but one can ascertain when they ended. According to him, the transformation of 1989 marked the end of “Kresy” as a political concept. The Third Polish Republic’s political doctrine, rooted in the thought of Kultura, recognizes the autonomy and need to support Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania.
In this presentation, Julia Golachowska will analyze how the memory of “Kresy” is framed in museums in eastern Poland. She will focus on the following institutions: the Ludwik Zamenhof Centre in Białystok, the Sybir Memorial Museum in Białystok, and the Museum of the Eastern Borderlands in Lubaczów. She will look at conflictual and nostalgic variants of working with this issue. How is this nostalgia present there? How is the past multiculturalism portrayed? Golachowska strives not only to explore the existing exhibitions but also to reflect on potential alternatives. What kind of story about the Borderlands is possible?
Julia Golachowska is a doctoral student at the Jagiellonian University and visual artist based in Warsaw. She has degrees in Media Arts (Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw), Cultural Studies (University of Warsaw), and Nationalism Studies (Central European University). Golachowska also studied Gender Studies at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Science (PAN). Her research and artistic practice deal with Polish national identity and politics of memory. Golachowska’s texts have been published in Res Publica Nowa, Codziennik Feministyczny, and Wysokie Obcasy. She is a member of Kolektyw Łaski (together with Jagoda Kwiatkowska and Anna Shimomura), a feminist art collective.
Mariia Shynkarenko, IWM Research Director of Ukraine in European Dialogue, will moderate the discussion.
