From the Artist

Art and Memory is a collection of mixed media artworks created in 2019 to illustrate my thoughts and inspirations derived from the stories of extraordinary women, whose stories were recorded during the historical Forgotten Force project. This is my artist response to the transcription of their stories, sent to me after the interviews took place.

I am an artist and art conservator working in London. I believe that involvement with art, whether as an observer, connoisseur or creator, can be a form of therapy. As an artist I focus on the subjects of childhood, motherhood and womanhood because I understand them as very universal matters. I very often portray children with their toy-attribute, held as a symbol of their individual story. I paint mothers and children hugging; breast feeding women in the shape of Madonna Lactans (nursing Madonna) – a symbol of eternal, unconditional love. I am interested in memories and their influence on us as individuals. The history of displacement, and indeed the contemporary displacement of big groups of refugees that we witness today, is very often background or starting point for many of my creative ventures. As an art conservator I think that preserving our heritage is especially important because knowing our past enables us to understand our present. This is my artist response to the transcription of their stories, sent to me after the interviews took place.

Art and Memory allowed me to explore various historical and creative areas and raised a lot of questions: Are women real keepers of our past? Can the future be packed into one small suitcase? Can the same be done with the past? How important in the context of collective memory is personal history, and should it be part of the school textbook? Is it possible that the carefully listened story will teach us sensitivity and openness to other people? Working with stories, the reminiscence of somebody’s life, is very enriching, but also overwhelming experience. I can only say thank you for letting me be a part of this project. I feel that I can no longer be indifferent to suffering, because your stories made me care.

Zofia Wyszomirska-Noga