17.03.2023 / at 18.00 / FOTO-GEN Gallery of the Center for Culture and Art in Wroclaw
On Friday March 17 at 18.00 invite you to a meeting with Julia Klewaniec, winner of the ZinCall category of the 2022 Talent of the Year competition organized by Pix.House, which will center around her debut project "Silent Racism / Silent Racism"..
The exhibition and publication produced by Klewaniec draws attention to the phenomenon of "silent racism" occurring in contemporary Polish society, to what extent it is conscious and how it affects the people involved. Language evolves, follows the development of civilization and culture. In Poland, racism is symbolized by the commonly used word Negro in colloquial speech, a culturally coined word that is the only functioning term for dark-skinned people until the beginning of the 21st century and still in use today. Over the years, generations, the word has been used, and society has been brought up with it. "Dark as a Negro's ass," "The Negro has done his job, the Negro can leave," "Work like a Negro," are terms that can be heard on the streets and in homes.
The project focuses on the process of changing the meaning of the noun Negro in Poland, its connotations, its place in the culture, and looks at the aggression it amplifies and manipulates the context. But why does it come with such difficulty, in an atmosphere of contention? Why should colloquial speech in this regard be changed? Why raise awareness about the negative impact of language on identity? Language is a representation of reality and will only change if those who use it change. Silent racism is the voice of a generation that wants this change.
Julia Klewaniec (1996) is a photographer, cultural animator, graduate of Photography at the Film School in Lodz. Co-founder of Picture Doc Foundation together with a group of photographers (Large Room Studio Gallery) in Warsaw. Resident in the student section of the festival "Within Sopot" (2022). Selected by Fotofestiwal for Futures Talents 2022 Talent of the Year 2022 in the Pix.House competition. Her debut project "Silent Racism" was presented in Warsaw, Opole, Lodz, Turin, Braga, Bochnia, Copenhagen, among others. Together with Pix.House and Krzysiek Orlowski, she will publish "Silent Racism" at the end of 2022.