The Lower Silesian Folk Musicians’ Gathering Named After Józef Majchrzak is an event consisting of two synergistic elements. It responds to the need to revive and keep alive the memory of Józef Majchrzak, who died in 1985—a folklorist, ethnomusicologist and researcher of the musical traditions of the indigenous population of Lower Silesia, including the work of people resettled from the Eastern Borderlands, Bosnia and Romanian Bukovina—and to present traditional singing and folk music performed live, either a cappella or accompanied by folk instruments.
The November gathering will be honored by ambassadors of Lower Silesian traditional culture, including laureates of Poland’s most important nationwide distinction, the Oskar Kolberg Award “For Merits to Folk Culture.”
On the stage of the Miejski Ośrodek Kultury, Sportu i Rekreacji w Chojnowie, audiences will see:
- the Waliszowianie ensemble,
- Joanna Matusiak,
- the Gościszowianie ensemble
- and Dariusz Rdzanek.
The artistic performances will be preceded by an exceptional exhibition by Dr. Monika Polak entitled “Postwar Settlers. A Portrait Collage of Lower Silesia.” The exhibition is being held as part of a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in the field of visual arts.
“Events from almost 80 years ago made Lower Silesia one of Poland’s most culturally rich regions. This is our greatest wealth. Our patron, Józef Majchrzak, demonstrated this many times by producing hours-long broadcasts in the 1950s devoted to the people resettled at that time to the western lands. A true musical feast lies ahead of us,” encourages Sebastian Kacperski of the Lower Silesian Society for Folk Culture.
About the exhibition “Postwar Settlers. A Portrait Collage of Lower Silesia”
The exhibition presents a collection of painted portraits of the last representatives of a generation who came to Lower Silesia as a result of World War II, were resettled from eastern territories, re-emigrated to the Recovered Territories or settled here for economic reasons.
This series develops a portrait project created years ago, in which patterned curtains, tablecloths and various scraps of fabric, marked by the passage of time and found in homes and second-hand clothing stores, acquire an unusual purpose. The unconventional use of multicolored fabrics as a surface for paint, together with the use of botanical motifs, is intended to evoke in our imagination images of former provinces, with their patterned houses and walls, windows with floral curtains, embroidery and clothing that are becoming increasingly exotic in the contemporary landscape. Figures emerging from the background and permeating coherently arranged canvas structures create a complete image—not only visual, but also meaningful.
The culture of former communities is fading and becoming archaic. The magical, colorful folklore, full of mysterious tales, lively songs and customs, is also disappearing. The artist embarked on a journey to find the oldest still-living testimony of the former culture and to learn the stories etched on the faces of the inhabitants of Lower Silesian villages and towns, so diverse in terms of the origins, fate and traditions of the resettled people.
The project’s title, “The Last of Our Portraits,” is not accidental. The word “last” serves as an appeal, drawing attention to a departing generation, while the pronoun “our” symbolizes our identity and cultural heritage. Short notes about the people portrayed accompany the paintings, explaining the complexity of the social fabric that has influenced the shaping of the region’s contemporary character.
Dr. Monika Polak (born in 1992 in Tarnobrzeg) graduated with distinction in 2017 from the painting studio of Prof. Stanisław Kortyka and the electronic media studio of Prof. Wojciech Pukocz at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, and then obtained her doctoral degree at her alma mater in 2023. She has received several awards and multiple scholarships, including the Artistic Scholarship of the Mayor of Wrocław, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage Scholarship for outstanding achievements, and the Jerzy Grotowski Scholarship. She has taken part in four solo exhibitions and several dozen group exhibitions in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Thailand, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Latvia and Italy. Her works are held in the collections of the City of Wrocław, the Lower Silesian Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, the Kresy Museum in Lubaczów, the Krupa Gallery Foundation and private collections. She works in painting, installation, graphic art and historic preservation.
Organizers
- Lower Silesian Society for Folk Culture
- Miejski Ośrodek Kultury, Sportu i Rekreacji w Chojnowie
- Lower Silesian Folk Musicians’ Gathering Named After Józef Majchrzak