Overgrowth (Auschwitz)

Painting from the series 'Grounds', created by Jacek Waltoś in the mid-1960s, still before the March 1968 events. In a metaphorical way, it addresses the forgetting and conscious repressing of the memory of the Holocaust. In the painting, the artist depicted the famous inscription placed above the gate of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, being overgrown with forms abstract in character, but resembling living, natural organisms. As the artist said: 'In order to reflect the incompleteness of life, oblivion of facts or the loss of people, I have at my disposal: a shadow, a trace of a reflection, the green colour. Having spent a long time in nature, I have become convinced about the overwhelming vitality of plants, about the laws of nature to which we are subject, too: thought does nothing but decorate and brighten our lifespan, and our memory evanesces like earth overgrown with grass.' The inscription 'Arbeit macht frei' is now barely visible, almost completely 'overgrown' in memory. In this way, Waltoś provokes a discussion about the memory of tragic events and its use in politics..

JO