Film Screening,
Jul 16, 2024

Joanna Malinowska & C.T. Jasper: If One Were Only an Indian (excerpt from a film in progress) & Sławomir Witek: The King (2010)

If One Were Only an Indian by Joanna Malinowska and C.T. Jasper tells a story of three friends representing different generations and walks of life that share the same fascination and profound interest in the cultures of Indigenous Americans, especially from the Prairies. In Malinowska's words, "our heroes live on the fringes of Polish contemporary, neo-liberal society; close to nature; they support themselves through an array of freelance, seasonal work. They are superb artisans replicating Native American beadwork, weapons and tools, constructing fine tipis. Wila (65), who completed her gender transition at 54, is the elder and the leader of the trio. Her many fascinating stories include making acquaintance with Dennis Banks and hosting him in her tipi during one of the Sacred Runs organized by the American Indian Movement. Our film documents their journey to America, to Pine Ridge Reservation and their confrontation with the XXI century reality of life on the reservation."

Click here to watch the trailer.

Over the recent years, Joanna Malinowska and C.T. Jasper have been frequent collaborators. Their work spans installation, film, video, sculpture, and explores themes of national identity and its paradoxes, filtered through the lenses of "experimental anthropology.” In 2015, the two artists represented Poland at the Venice Biennale with the project Halka/Haiti 18°48’05”N 72°23’01”W, which was later shown at the Göteborg Biennial for Contemporary Art, the Ghetto Biennale in Port-au-Prince, the Krasnoyarsk International Museum Biennale, and many other exhibitions around the world, from Japan to Australia. Their project Mother Earth Sister Moon was commissioned by the Performa’09 in New York and later shown at Nottingham Contemporary and Warsaw’s Zachęta – The National Gallery of Art. In 2015, Malinowska and Jasper showed Relations Disrelations in the Łódź Museum of Art, an exhibition which summed up their individual and joint works. Among their recent projects are The Emperor’s Canary, a sound installation commissioned by the High Line in New York and later presented at the Centre Pompidou-Metz in France as well as the installations In Savage Society (GGM, Gdańsk, 2019), Jurassic Garden (Le Guern, Warsaw, 2020), and Who is Afraid of Natasha? (Triennial Bruges, 2021).

Sławomir Witek's The King (2010) is a 5-minute documentary étude on the unveiling of one of the world's tallest statues of Jesus, in Świebodzin, Poland.

Sławomir Witek graduated from Gdańsk University (History Studies) and Gdynia Film School. Witek is a director and cinematographer of documentaries, short and full-length feature films. His recent projects include Pour l’amour and Nowy świat. He currently teaches at the Sculpture and Intermedia Department of Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, Poland.