Reflections on exhibition by Małgorzata Drohomirecka: Strategies of the unreliable narrator in dealing with nationality, patriotism, ethnicity in artistic feminist discourses

Abstract

This is a report on the visual art collection WA(Y)ST(O)ED FREEDOM exhibited in the Centrala — Art Gallery and Creative Space in Birmingham, United Kingdom, 5th–25th November 2021. The authors discuss Małgorzata Drohomirecka’s series of works, Polonia 2020, which consist of collages that reinterpret national and patriotic symbolism. Polonia is a very important role model for Polish women as well as for the political devise. The authors discuss the artistic strategies involved in deconstructing the national myths and social stereotypes used by the artist. These strategies are called “the unreliable narrator”, namely the means to look at history as a repository of themes and material which is now in need of reinterpretation, sometimes ridiculing, and dismissal. The paper includes the artist’s commentary on her works.