Decembers – the archive, 2013
Vitrine with 17 borrowed or donated objects, 1 inkjet print (110 x 89 cm), 3 unique prints (36 x 27 cm), transcription of subtitle track mounted as inkjet print on dibond, wooden shelf
Decembers – the archive is a part of the larger project Decembers, which takes its point of departure from recent Polish history: two December strikes that occurred in 1970 and 1981. These ground-breaking events mobilised a significant part of the Polish population opposed to sudden and extreme food price hikes, low wages, and the totalitarian communist government.
The project, developed in collaboration with a group of women who participated in literary workshops at the University of the Third Age in Gdańsk, revolves around themes of memory, stigmatisation, and the construction of history. Decembers - the archive contains private objects and photographs selected by the women that relate to their personal narratives, which constitute a subjective archive. It deconstructs the linear narrative that the archive typically represents, instead presenting layers of parallel moments and creating new narrative structures in the writing of history.