A Universal Archive

A Universal Archive stages narrative connected to history, memory, separation and vulnerability. It is a visual and audio exploration of a close relationship one can have with people and places despite being separated from them physically due to different circumstances. Those circumstances could range from short-term travels, a permanent move to even wars or a loved one’s death.

The work employs a range of media and is constructed from found objects and sounds collected in different countries and at different times. In 2013, while visiting passages in Paris, I came across a collection of love letters and postcards from as early as 1908 and WWII period. What they all had in common was a message of hope, encouragement and a desire to be remembered.

When on one of my walks in San Francisco, I ran into a postcard with a similar message, but this time it was dated-2018. And then, there is a stamp that literally flew into my hands on a windy foggy morning. The video of the shadows of flowers gently swaying on a warm June afternoon was recorded in Yerba Buena Gardens.

The sound is a collection of sounds recorded in the period of 2 years during my travels between Poland and the U.S. Consequently, a Universal Archive transcends the specifity of context, drawing on universal human experiences associated with displacement, vulnerability and flux, as well as a hope not to be forgotten.