18 May - 16 June, 2019
Galeria
Sleńdzińskich
Ludwika Waryńskiego 24a
15-429 Białystok, Poland
photography: Catherine Scrivener
Rafał Zajko titles his exhibition “We were here”. It
references directly the wild, illegal inscriptions created in public space,
very often considered to be acts of vandalism. But this particular sentence –
by the virtue of being the official title of the exhibition – was transported
into the administrative sphere and no longer retains its rebellious functions.
It can be considered their metaphor at best.
However it still expresses the same sentiments as the wall
writings: the desire to record oneself, mark one’s own presence; to show the
word one’s existence!
Rafał Zajko fills the walls and the entire space of the
gallery with the objects he has created – works of art. Objects, which
represent his own artistic language. Objects which present his, so to speak,
handwriting. Zajko is an artist with a very particular aesthetic style and as such
can be “easily recognizable”.
But already in these individual works the artist refers to
the collectivity. One that is not yet named, but already expressed. We could
say that it is a community of oppression. The aesthetics of Zajko’s individual
works in a sense questions the individuality. His bas-reliefs resemble
pre-fabricated elements, seemingly not created by an artist, but rather a
collective of workers; people without their own names, human tools. The
dominating motif are the graphically simplified symbols resembling hands and/or
workshop wrenches. Brought together by an embrace (both people and tools) start
to resemble each other. And it becomes hard to determine who assembles whom.
Zajko strips the human hand from its power of individual
signature. Hand impression is often and individual sign. A symbol of inimitable
individuality. It is a common knowledge among the pop-culture celebrities, who
keep leaving their hands impressed in various star alleys. In the
quasi-industrial, technical aesthetics of Zajko’s works, tool-like hands and
hand-like tools do not have an individual character. They grasp each other,
link together to form a chain (or perhaps
a labyrinth), forming a hybrid and community. Zajko calls it “unity”,
clearly pointing towards the objective nature of collectivity.
These patterns of hands and tools can be a sign of community
once formed by the female and male workers of the “Fasty” Białystok Textile
Industry Plants. The artist’s ancestors were members of this community, and
objects with “Fasty” logo (did they even
use the word ‘logo’ back then?) filled the world in which he was raised. He
now recreates the logo in the exhibition as a sign of memory. Thanks to him the
words “we were here” can be uttered not only by his grandparents, but all
workers of “Fasty” – a once great industrial combine, which was defeated by the
political transformation, and brought to ruin by the economic changes of 1990s.
That is why he chooses to create his post-industrial rendering of the logo in
ice. Just like the logo of “Metro” club – Białystok music venue, which is a
legend of Polish electronic music scene. This is another world in which the
subject is also the individuality-forming collectivity. The club, which gained
a national fame, formed its own alternative community, which was a source of
formative strength. This community allowed people to create their own identity
and find their identification. This experience was shared by the author
himself. Hence the reconstruction of the club’s logo in ice. “We were here” –
these words are uttered by the signs of the past and they become past
themselves before our very eyes.
But there are other signs being born before us. Zajko not
only reaches into the past, but also designs future memories. He initiates
collectivities. The entire space of the completed exhibition is painted over by
a group of invited graffiti artists. They tag their presence completely
independently. In their own way. They say “we were here” and leave.
He also prepares a special column for chewing gum made out of
pavement bricks. A place for collecting the viewers’ identities. And for
creating a collective sign. Slightly sculptural, very physiological. It is the
real “us”, made from our saliva, teeth impressions, and DNA. Raw components of
our faces prior to the digital reconstruction.
Rafal Zajko
instagram : @rafal_zajko