I Went on a Pilgrimage with My Mom

Kobas Laksa’s video is an account of a bus pilgrimage to the St Mary Sanctuary in Licheń organised by the artist’s mother. The original documentary material focused on the architecture and scenery of the destination; its abridged version was sold as a kind of a travel souvenir. The work I Went on a Pilgrimage with My Mom, in turn, focuses on social issues. The main topic is not the place of worship but a fascination with the most popular sanctuary of Poland. According to most research on the self-image of Poles, religiousness is its constitutive element. Though, the artist has a different take on the issue. From his perspective, the pilgrimage is more of an excursion than a spiritual experience, which corroborates the hypothesis that the religiousness of Poles is traditionalistic rather than theological. The spiritual dimension of the pilgrimage evaporates somewhere between a visit to the Calvary and shopping at the street vendors’ stalls. The words of prayer are at odds with the sweet figures of saints, and the religious message clashes with the lavish decor.

The destination of the pilgrimage is a new site on the religious map of Poland. The Licheń sanctuary, completed in 2004, has as many supporters as opponents. Here, kitsch meets religious ecstasy, aesthetic issues intertwine with questions about the nature of contemporary religiousness. Disney-like architecture and expensive construction materials make up the local landscape. This begs difficult questions about economics and ethics. The world of devotional memorabilia and rampant consumption has always been part and parcel with pilgrimages. Religion has always co-existed with money, forever raising doubts about profit-earning in places of worship.

In Laksa’s work, these issues are juxtaposed with the figure of a pilgrim: the artist’s mother. Laksa introduces her as an energetic woman who works for the benefit of the Catholic community. Her world is different from her son’s world. Laksa presents it from a distance yet with warm acceptance. He leaves open the question concerning the reasons for the fascination with this cheap fairy-tale sanctuary and stops short of a harsh criticism of the phenomenon.

Izabela Kopania

translated from Polish by Marcin Łakomski