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Images: Andrzej Golc

Privileged Refugee | Jan Bačynsjkyj
15.03-05.05.2024
Coornidated by Dominika Głowala
TRAFO (PL)

Following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Jan Bačynsjkyj left his homeland, embarking on a nomadic journey. This shift has profoundly impacted both his personal development and artistic practice. He now focuses on the creation of fabric based objects that form the central point of his new narrative. His own clothes have become carriers of memory, through which Bačynsjkyj revisits the history of his family and homeland. The artist begins by acknowledging the resourcefulness of grandmothers in the Soviet era, who, in the face of scarcity, resorted to sewing their own clothes. Bačynsjkyj’s story intertwines elements of contemporary everyday history with folk symbolism still embedded in Ukrainian culture. In the aftermath of war trauma, clothing becomes the sole element mimicking a sense of security. Through stories of migration and displacement, he explores the significance of clothing as the last trace of protection in the face of losing one’s home.

His works, serving as a form of protest and an alternative to the existing order, also reflect the comedy of existence against tragedy. The artist consistently resists tragic narratives, instead creating alternative practices that ensure a combat ready response to change.

This exhibition immerses us in the story of a war refugee, a queer artist, whose longing for his homeland is interwoven with a dream of a better world. The world of queer utopia serves as a space for reflection on the contemporary condition of humankind, memory, and identity. Fabric remnants merge with words, becoming icons in their own right. Through the medium of text, the voices of others who have shared similar experiences resonate.