A multi-level, transparent spatial installation „To My Friends ...” is inspired by Władysław Strzemiński's collages under the title-dedication „To My Friends the Jews”, which he created from 1945. Collages constituted Strzemiński's response to the experience of war and post-war anti-Semitism, which the artist opposed in this way. Strzemiński traced motifs from some of his war drawings through transposing entire compositions or fragments of them. The second crucial element of the collages are photographs from the ghetto, transports, concentration camps and the Jewish uprising glued on drawings. Shocking photographs show massacred bodies, shanks and skulls of murdered people. The experience of war and the Holocaust is marked by a break in the artistic biography - in the war works none of the existing languages or forms, is able to reflect traumatic experience. The artist departs from the formal utopia of Unizism, of which he himself was the creator. Strzemiński's series „To My Friends the Jews” was shown at an individual exhibition in February 1947. In this way, the artist clearly demonstrated his own attitude towards growing anti-Semitic moods, social aversion towards the Jews who survived the Holocaust. The forms of the installation elements „To My Friends ...” directly refer to drawings appearing in collages taking their shapes. Recalling Strzemiński's historical gesture, I refer to modern times and question current forms of discrimination. The method of presentation invites interaction with transparent forms. Thus, the viewer can become a part of the installation and spontaneously share the experience. Each of us can be subject to discrimination since we are constantly exposed to being considered as the so-called "minority". It is the skill of empathy that makes us more human and capable of sharing experience of others. The form of presentation collates reality with the world of art, offering immersive experience, and crucially, stimulating reflection. The shapes borrowed from Strzemiński's collages are only meant to serve this purpose, and are not an end per se. In the next phase of the installation, on the same forms taken from Strzemiński's collages, specific contemporary figures appear - internet images of child-victims of wars. The quoted photos of war refugees are iconic and present in collective consciousness. The installation „To My Friends...” was created for the exhibition „Miłość na przedniej straży / L'amour à l'avant-garde” originated by me. It pointed at the need to change the awareness in 21st century, the need for a dialog attitude towards the world, living in harmony with yourself, other people and nature. The title love refers to the broad understanding of the concept - as a principle of respect and empathy for all living beings. Art should be an instrument in achieving the desired world harmony. Respect for the planet, for all creatures inhabiting it, without exception, regardless of gender, origin, worldview, sexual orientation and identity, and for our „smaller brothers”.
