Bialystokness

The work by Milena Korolczuk is a self-reflexive exercise on the topic of searching for an identity and the unceasing process of defining oneself against a place, tradition and values. Korolczuk avoids convoluted cerebrations, complex metaphors or hermetic references to the resources of the culture in which she was brought up. The language she uses is a language of impressions, remembered sounds and emotions arising from an intense yet contemplative experience of reality.

The elements that jointly construct the space of Korolczuk’s life, both on the purely empirical level and in her inner world, are clearly defined in the film. The measured, monotonous ringing of church bells, to the rhythm of which a young woman in a simple white dress moves against the background of the blue sky, points to religion and the Catholic tradition as one of the elements that organised her world and her system of values. Other references are contained in the title of the film. The original Polish title Białystość, here translated as Bialystokness, refers to both whiteness (Polish: białość), and hence purity, and to Białystok, the town in the vicinity of which Korolczuk was born.* Whiteness and purity evoke many associations related to respecting religious norms and mores. In the case of Korolczuk’s film, these connotations are as valid as they are deceptive; its contents may just as well be perceived in terms of freshness, receptiveness to stimuli and the way in which a place shapes one’s personality. Youthful enthusiasm, which as much as the bells dictates the motion of the woman’s body, causes the work to teeter on the borderline between affected rapture and authenticity in experiencing the world emotionally.

In the video-film Bialystokness, sound not only marks the rhythm to which the female figure submits, albeit retaining her autonomy, but is also a sign of order. In addition, Korolczuk gives sound the power to evoke the place and the passage of time; sounds coming from the church tower are a reminder of the consecutive holy masses, their regularity signals the ensuing periods of day, and this, in turn, is associated with the ordered life of a traditional society. Korolczuk perceives the religious element alluded to by the sound of bells not as a source of oppression, but as a part of her own identity. Instead of submitting to the meanings carried by the measured tones, she turns them into a source of energy and inspiration.

Izabela Kopania

translated from Polish by Klaudyna Michałowicz

*  In the case of Białystok, Korolczuk refers to a spectrum of meanings associated with the town’s name. The literal translation of the word Białystok is “white stream”. The town is situated in northeastern Poland, in the Podlasie region, which is known for its natural values and traditional society cultivating religious and local traditions.