Chave jawle wasio thud (Children Coming For Milk), 2019
Textile, acrylic on canvas on wooden stretcher
150 × 160 cm
[Photo: © Hendrik Zeitler. Courtesy Margorzata Mirga-Tas]
Małgorzata Mirga-Tas is a Polish artist of Romani origin, winner of the Paszport Polityki award and a representative of Poland at the 59th VeniceBiennale in 2022. In her work she is influenced by the Harlem Renaissance movement of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as by colored African art and the African American artist Kerry James Marshall. Her works, notwithstanding the strong and unreal colors, harken back to realistic and everyday scenes to keep alive the memory of the customs and habits of her people.
In the series of works that includes Chave jawle wasio thud (Children Coming For Milk), the artist portrays moments in the history and life of the Swedish Romani. Using photographs from private archives, Mirga-Tas is part of the local reality, choosing simple yet personal motifs to portray the Romani community in Göteborg, where she presented her work in 2022.
Małgorzata Mirga-Tas currently lives and works in Czarna Góra, Poland. She graduated from the Academy of Arts in Krakow in 2004. As an activist, while still a student at the university, she dealt with education and training for young Romani in Poland. Between 2012–2016, she initiated an open artists’ village for female artists of Romani origin. In 2017 she was involved in the establishment of ERIAC, a Romani art center in Berlin. She had exhibitions in the 11th Biennale in Berlin (2020), at the Center for Polish Sculpture in Ornosko (2020), at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2020). In 2022 Mirga-Tas represented Poland at the 59th Venice Biennale. In 2023 she presented a solo exhibition at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw and another one at the Brücke Museum in Berlin.