By Agnieszka Kuchnia-Wołosiewicz
Art,culture and Literature are important to the country because it allows groups of
people to create objects that express their emotions. All nations have a collective
consciousness. It is the identity of the groups from which nations are formed. Artwork
helps people communicate ideas and this helps bring the nation together.
Keeping alive the tradition of Polish literature and art, On 4 February 2023, the Polish Social and Cultural Center (POSK) in London hosted an event for the Polish communities of London and Vienna under the auspices of ‘Remiza’ Remi Juśkiewicz’s broadcast and the ‘Vienna Dream’ Jacek Rozmiarek’s project.
Punctually at 6 p.m. (in the Atrium) an evening full of music, poetry and painting began. At the beggining Mrs. Żaneta Brudzińska, the director of culture at POSK, took the floor, and then the journalist and poet, Dariusz A. Zeller decorated Agata Olewińska with the ‘London Poetry’ medal (named after Barbara Jurkowska-Nawrocka, founded by the poet, Adam Siemiańczyk).
After a while, the souls of the audience were taken over by Polish artists from Vienna: Maria Glonek, Bożena Żywiczka, Halina Benkovics-Krajewska, Danuta Czerwińska-Murawska, Bogumiła Pidło and Jacek Rozmiarek.
In the second part of the meeting, poets from Great Britain spoke, promoting the emigration anthology published in July 2022 entitled ‘Thirteen Rooms’: Kasia Krawiecka, Ewa Taylor, Dorota Górczyńska-Bacik, Renata Cygan, Iza Smolarek, Agnieszka Kuchnia-Wołosiewicz, Alex Sławiński, Wiesław Fałkowski, Dariusz Adam Zeller, Mirosław Kraszewski. Remi Juśkiewicz played songs to the texts of several artists mentioned above.
Before Chris Rae’s musical performance, the host of the evening sang a song (to the text by Danuta Nogawka), and Małgorzata Kuchnia read a poem about Krakow.
Chris’s performance aroused a lot of emotions, and the reception was an excellent. His music inspired by the Beatles, was delighted. Then the microphone was taken over by Natalya Kavczynska, who (accompanied by Marek Tomczak) carried away the audience by performing covers of well-known songs.
It is worth noting that, apart from paintings and graphics, photographs (by Piotr Bacik) were also hung on the walls of the Atrium that evening.
Samuel Goo, Elżbieta Rudzińska-Paul, Katarzyna Baszczyńska, Jakub Kurzyński and Leonard Franciszek Berendt were unable to attend the meeting, but despite this it was possible to get acquainted with their works.
“It is an honor for me to be present at the Polish art evening. I am glad that this nation loves literature and art in general. Even though I don’t speak Polish, I felt the atmosphere of the event – poetry, music, painting, graphics and photography. It was all excellent. I congratulate Polish community a great initiative and success,” said Raza Syed (journalist of The London Post).
The presence in the audience was honored by: Mariola Dobrenko (musician, Director of the Festival of Young Talents “Polonus”), Regina Wasiak-Taylor (President of the Union of Polish Writers Abroad), Nika Boon (journalist of the PRL Radio in London, singer and songwriter), Raza Syed ( journalist of The London Post), “Hoppala” Theater Group from Vienna.The event took place with the support of the Polish Embassy in London and POSK.
