IT'S BEEN A WHILE
Poland, home, back again, and some other new developments.
Greetings! As you may know, I recently spent nine-months in Poland on a research/performance project investigating the survival story of a woman named Paulina.
My last big missive was right before my journey with writer/artist Patrycja Dołowy – a road-trip following Paulina's wartime path across Poland and Ukraine.
What happened on the journey?
Hm... well, in an attempt to put it simply: it was as if unseen forces were working together to test our belief in what is possible, launching us into what we can only describe as a veritable modern-day folktale!
This story is alive, and it does not rest. If you go to Poland, something similar could happen to you...
Patrycja and I are continuing to develop a performance, based on our experience, to be used as a catalyst for memory-work, presented in the US, Poland and beyond.
In fact, thanks to support from the US Embassy, Warsaw, I am back in Poland with Patrycja right now, headed to do a presentation in Wieliczka, one of the cities where Paulina lived during the war. Wieliczka has turned out to be a kind of vortex for Paulina's and our story – it is where we made a breathtaking discovery and learned of some important, unfinished work that may need our help.
If you are in the area, please join us on November 16, 16:00 at Muzeum Zup Krakowskich Wieliczka.
And if you are somewhere near New York City, SAVE THE DATE:
Thursday, January 23, 2020 @ La MaMa Galleria
I will be presenting a tell-all re: Poland and Paulina in a special event lovingly curated by Monika Fabijańska - who I am very excited to work with on this. Please stay tuned for further details to come.
As always, thank you to Asylum Arts, the US Embassy in Warsaw, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the Jewish Historical Institute, Festivalt, Brooklyn Arts Council Fiscal Sponsor, and the many individuals who have given to "Paulina" over the past year.
(PS. If you are an individual person who donated to the project and have not received something from me, it is still coming!)
Image #1: With Patrycja Dołowy during an artist-led walk of Paulina's Kraków with Festivalt 2019. Photograph: Jason Francisco
Image #2: Paulina - Performance-in-Progress, July 3, 2019. POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw. Photo: Agata Grzybowska
