Juliette Laird [New Zeland]
“Dreaming of summer” | site specific installation
venue: park alley, Krowoderska Str.
“Dreaming of summer” was conceived initially as a response to the historical Long Gardens in Gdansk, harking back to the fruiting trees which once grew here. However, Laird’s investigations discovered some strong connections between Poland and New Zealand. On November 2nd, 1944, 733 Polish orphans arrived by ship in Wellington, were taken to a camp in the centre of the North Island and became famous as the “Children of Pahiatua” who went on to make their homes and lives around New Zealand. This story resonated strongly with her as it linked to ideas she had already begun to explore in 2012, drawing an analogy between the way we graft branches onto trees and how immigrants adapt to new ways and environments.
Laird imagined the children returning to the Eastern Polish countryside in their dreams at night; to a time before the Russian invasion and the years of exile and hardship, and before they lived in the foreign landscape of New Zealand.
Knitting was very important during the war years in New Zealand when no imported manufactured goods were available, and women were encouraged to knit (for the armed forces) as their contribution to the war effort. I imagined that some of the local mums in Pahiatua may have donated hand-knitted garments to the camp for the orphans. It seemed a perfect medium for this project. Like many other repetitive tasks, knitting was often done as a group activity, and its results sometimes combined in a single piece of work. Warm, woolly garments are associated with the collective caring of women for their families and communities, and indeed may provide comfort to the wearer as ‘transitional objects’ standing in for a caring adult.
Laird made contact with the Auckland Polish Association as she wanted to make sure that her version of their story was acceptable to the Polish community and not only did she get support and encouragement for the project, she also got help with the knitting. While she had, with the help of friends, completed the 733 leaves she had aimed for, she now received another 80 knitted by Marysia Jaskiwig, one of those orphan children who arrived in 1944; adding a valuable dimension to the installation: Working collaboratively pushes artists to articulate and tighten up what we do on the one hand, and enforces open-mindedness and a willingness to adapt on the other. This has been a very positive and important part of the project for me.
