2025
textile

Kamil Kak’s work stems from a need to understand what local identity means – and whether it can be rebuilt collectively from the ground up. The artist has created a monumental textile woven from the personal stories, symbols and memories of people connected with the Aniołki district.

Kak draws on the tradition of school, religious, national and guild banners – symbols of collective identification and pride. Yet instead of presenting a finished emblem, the artist proposes a process of co-creation: plural, non-uniform and open. The banner becomes a tool for dialogue rather than a declaration.

The artist also draws inspiration from the history of Gdańsk – and, in that context, reflects on what it truly means to be ‘from here’. They evoke the notion of the autochthon – a term ambiguous in Pomerania – as well as the post-war processes of migration, assimilation, displacement and the efforts to build a new community. The banner asks about today’s Aniołki: what might the district’s identity be if it were rebuilt from scratch? Which symbols would prove meaningful, and which superfluous?

The work was created in collaboration with the Aniołkowo Neighbourhood Club.

KAMIL KAK is a multidisciplinary artist, a graduate of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo, the University of Arts in Stockholm and the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. Their practice focuses on printmaking, textiles, video performance, glass and ceramics. By creating objects and props, and using exaggeration and bittersweet humour, they explore themes such as queer liberation, migration and the fragility of contemporary historical narratives. Their work reflects collective visions of the future within today’s ecopolitical context.