"Between Two Worlds: The Wrzeszcz Mural”

An accountant by day but anarchist by night; a transgender woman who creates eccentric and creative masks in her small apartment; a dedicated teacher whose free spirit was inspired by a group of traveling circus performers who she once welcomed into her home... These are a few of the many stories from Wrzeszcz, a working-class community in the city of Gdańsk, Poland, on the Baltic Sea...

One of the transgender mask-maker's eccentric masks is painted on the corner of the wall. All of the stories are from local residents who were interviewed for this project.

The teacher dedicated to her students, but also thinking about her friends in the traveling circus who inspired her free spirit. She, like many of the characters, is living "between two worlds."

The entire background consists of art by the children and youth: abstract expressions, drawings, writings, and even foot prints! I call this approach "Expressive Group Painting," which produces a unique aesthetic and is very different to the standard "paint-by-numbers" approach to youth mural projects.

detail: notice the pipe, which we decorated with clothes hangers that we painted. Also notice the local Polish designs created with stencils made especially for this project. The designs were taken from a local historic building.

detail: one of the traveling performers who inspired the teacher

detail: another traveling circus performer


Me and the mural

detail

The accountant-by-day, anarchist-by-night: another character living "between two worlds." Notice that in the background, one of the students painted her version of the famous painting "Scream"by Edvard Munch with the word "Wrzeszcz!" which is the name of the neighborhood, but also means "Scream!" in Polish. 

A common site: an elderly woman looks vigilantly out of her window, not always amused by the characters who go by. Notice the multi-media aspect: a real clothing line comes out of her window with laundry decorated to match the mural.

The laundry line: a common site in the neighborhood. These clothes were covered with plaster and painted for the project.

Portrait of a ship-yard worker, common to this blue collar community. Behind him are two images that anyone in the area would recognize, as they are statues in a nearby park: A joyful girl and a boy playing a tin drum, both characters from the books of the Nobel-prize winning author Günter Grass , one of Wrzeszcz’s most famous native sons.

Portrait of an elderly woman, blind in one of her eyes.

Portrait of this mechanic, whose shop is in the building where the mural was painted. He allowed the use of his garage for storage of supplies and allowed us to use his ladder, so the portrait on the door of his mechanic shop was a gift to him.

Behind the Scenes: the Making of the Mural

The “Wrzeszcz Community Art Project” began with a series of art workshops with children and youth in a working class neighborhood of Gdańsk. The project included interviews with local residents, whose stories were put up on a website, and culminated in a large mural that told their stories, incorporating imagery from the neighborhood and the creative expressions of local youth and adults. I used an approach that I have been developing this year called “Expressive Group Art,” in which the youth contribute their writings, drawings, and abstract expressions throughout the mural, all of which gets incorporated into the background of the mural, creating an interesting and innovative aesthetic. This is intended as a creative alternative to the traditional “paint-by-numbers” approach to youth mural projects. The students also had the opportunity to create their own mini- murals and learned to make stencils. Some of the students attended the high school where the mural was painted, and the smaller kids were participants of the NGO that organized the project.

I made a presentation during the first workshop

Bartek with some students

The students sketched their ideas during one of the workshops

Preparing the wall for the mural

I gave a demonstration on the first painting day

Fun with paint!

In every country I've worked in, kids end up painting themselves! I guess it's universal...

Karolina creates "foot art"

Dominik loved to practice his English with me!

Some of the more dedicated students created their own mini-murals

One of the students with her work

Stencil art by one of the students. The king is telling the queen to scream, a reference to the name of the neighborhood, which is Wrzeszcz, meaning "scream."

The kids try out their new stencils, which they learned to make in the art workshops.

Mural Inauguration: the project comes to a close

The project came to a close with a public event, which featured a presentation of the mural, live music, and refreshments. Many of the students and their families attended, as well as neighborhood residents. 

During my time in Gdańsk I made some amazing new friends and learned a lot about this city. I admit I had not even heard of it, but it is so important to world history; this is where World War II essentially began when Hitler invaded Poland starting from Gdańsk It was also the scene of the Solidarity Movement in the 1980’s, in which a union of shipyard workers led massive strikes aimed at their dissatisfaction with the Soviet- puppet government, eventually leading to the independence of Poland and playing a big role in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Modern-day Gdańsk is a cool city with tons of street art, graffiti, and huge murals. I was lucky enough to have street art tour given by some of my new friends— I loved it! Thanks so much to Bartek and Karolina for their hospitality and for hosting me in Gdańsk!!!

My new friends in Poland

Bartek, who organized the mural project, gives a speech at the inauguration.

A local band plays at the inauguration.

Enjoying the refreshments.