Anna Wesołowska–Owczarska

Morskie opowieści / Sailor’s Tales

sound installation

‘Perła Bałtyku’ restaurant at 65 Oliwska Street

 

Anna Wesołowska-Owczarska talks to an anonymous man, who gives an account of the illicit trade that sailors engaged in when working on trade routes to foreign ports during the time of People’s Poland. The sound recording documents the intricacies of smuggling and illegal trade in the 1970s and 1980s. The calm ambiance of the conversation brings to mind a recording made by a concealed device. The speaker evokes the flavour of the time with references to such products as Prastara cologne, Nivea cream, Kryształek and Donald chewing gum, which were very popular abroad, especially in the Soviet Union and Egypt. The narrator describes who was in on the deals, the ‘black brigade’, the methods of hiding and handing over the goods, the exchange rates, the most profitable routes and talks about the risk and reward involved; clearly, he is someone very familiar with the reality of a sailor’s life and work on ships and in the port at that time.

Anna Wesołowska-Owczarska – a graduate of the protection of cultural assets at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Mikołaj Kopernik University in Toruń and photography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. Within her professional work she employs her knowledge of art history and develops her artistic passions. She also takes part in artistic education and acting as a guide for groups of tourists to the less frequented parts of Gdańsk.