Ja, Jadzia / Me, Jadzia

Kristina Leko in collaboration with Jadwiga Janowska, 2000
8'  Hi 8/beta SP/DV
Single channel video (unlimited edition)
Polish with English subtitles or Polish with German subtitles
Cinematography by Jadwiga Jadzia Janowska and Kristina Leko
Video editing by Igor Kožić

Produced by Kristina Leko and Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland

Supported by the City of Gdansk and Apexchange Amsterdam




Artist Statement

This video is my favorite story from a series of eleven video stories created in collaboration with eleven schoolgirls from downtown Gdansk, Poland, in January 2000 as part of my "Exchanging Biographies" project (see video Down Town Gdansk, see public space projects). Because their neighborhood was known for its high rates of violence and crime and lack of safe spaces, I wanted to provide the local children with an opportunity for creative expression by inviting them to create a documentary together. Together with the organizers, we hoped to initiate a community platform that would begin to address some of the issues that the children there were facing.

Jadzia, an eleven year old Polish girl, reads her autobiography in front of the camera at different locations in her neighborhood in the city of Gdansk. First she tells us about her birth and her health problems, then about her kindergarten years, which were not easy either, then about her father, who was an alcoholic and at first refused to admit that she was his daughter...  After that, Jadzia enters an apartment building. She shows us with the camera where she lives, guides us through her home, and lets us meet her family. By her simple comments and descriptions, we are drawn into the everyday life of a bright young person who, despite all the problems that may surround her, has won a medal for dancing several years in a row.


 

 

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