Cultural Politics and Cloth: Julia Griffin in Conversation with Małgorzata Mirga-Taś

Issue 108: Farm

‘The Roma are the single most discriminated against community in the world. For example, we settled down in Poland in the 15th century and have lived in Czarna Góra since 1700, so we can hardly be considered as refugees… In fact, Poland was the first country in the world to have passed a law against persecuting Roma, granting them freedom of movement. However, the history of cruelty against Roma in other countries is appalling. For example, until the 18th century Roma were still being sold in markets in some parts of the world.’

Małgorzata Mirga-Taś is a Polish-Romani artist from the Podhale Region of the Tatra, in the Carpathian Mountains in southern Poland. She represents Poland at the Venice Biennale as the first Roma artist ever to take over a national Biennale pavilion in the show’s 150-year history. She talks to Julia Griffin, an Anglo-Polish art historian and curator specialising in British and Polish art.

Julia Griffin: How did you become an artist?
Małgorzata Mirga-Taś: I come from a family who have always valued a good education. This is thanks to my grandparents, who cared about our schooling. From an early age I have always drawn and painted. My mum would take me to art classes in Zakopane and would wait for me at the local park until the class ended. As a teenager I originally chose a weaving college only to discover I was allergic to wool, so I transferred to cabinet making at the Antoni Kenar Art College instead, although I wasn’t much better with wood dust [laughter]. My parents support to do what I love has been key for my career choice too. I also encourage my sons to be true to their interests.

JG: How did you develop an interest in textiles?
MM-T: It came as a natural consequence of my thinking about various aspects of the creative process and ecology. I wanted to be able to create works which would bring together the properties of painting, sculpture and fabric. I was equally concerned with recycling and giving textiles a second life. I am also interested in Aby Warburg’s notion of the ‘afterlife’ of images. In my work I often use fragments of my (old) favourite clothes as well as the garments of my loved ones. Such fabrics not only carry the personal histories, energy and power of the people who had once worn them but also reflect the migration of textiles between countries or continents. The women in my family have always sewn; my grandmother even made and embroidered traditional bodices for Highlander women [Highlanders or Mountaineers are the indigenous inhabitants of the Tatra Mountains]. As part of my project ‘Side Thawenca—Sewn with our own Threads’ I seek to strengthen the sense of unity amongst the Roma by collaborating with Roma women with various communities; we sew fabrics into stories drawn from the verses of Roma poets. Introducing Roma words into the completed patchworks is a key part of this endeavour: it helps to cultivate and develop our identity. In the case of my exhibition at the Venice Biennale, I had the idea to try and clothe the Pavilion, including its interior as well as the facade. I think of my patchwork pieces as sculptures made from cloth.

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