Artists Series: Magorzata Mirga-Tas

(Paperback)

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An insightful and much-needed introduction to the life and work of Malgorzata Mirga-Tas, a textile artist dedicated to celebrating the vibrant heritage of the Romani community.

Malgorzata Mirga-Tas (b.1978) is a Romani artist and activist who is best known for her colourful textile collages. Made from materials gathered from family and friends, and often created in collaboration with other women, these works depict the everyday life of the Romani people to challenge stereotypical representations and form what she calls 'microcarriers of history'.

This fascinating introduction explores the life and work of Mirga-Tas, contextualising her practice within Romani culture and the community in which she was raised. Bringing attention to the Romani people - their relationships, alliances and shared activities - through her visual storytelling, she also re-imagines artworks from across the centuries that have presented Romani identity in negative ways and transforms them into vibrant images imbued with strength and dignity. These works, informed by her feminist perspective and a sustained engagement with her community, combine realism with visual motifs of Romani culture, and offer a rare opportunity to see and celebrate the Roma on their own terms - both as a contemporary community and as a people with a rich heritage.

Author Bio

Anne Barlow is Director at Tate St Ives. Previously, she was Artistic Director at Tate St Ives (20172018), Director of Art in General, New York (20072016), Curator of Education and Media Programs at the New Museum, New York (19992006), and Curator of Contemporary Art and Design at Glasgow Museums, Scotland (19941999). Giles Jackson is Curator, Interpretation at Tate St Ives. Katarzyna Depta-Garapich is an artist and researcher working across various media including sculpture, performative gestures and video, site- specific installations and drawing. Her recent body of work explores mythmaking in family storytelling positioned within the debate around the ecological and ethical issues resulting from the impact of humans on nature. vl . Durmusoglu is a Berlin-based curator, writer and educator working on constructive critiques of civilisation, sustainability of intersectional futures and practices of togetherness. She co-leads the Art in Discourse programme at the HBK Braunschweig University of Arts, Germany. Timea Junghaus is an art historian and contemporary art curator of Romani origin. Since 2017, she serves as Director of the Berlin-basedEuropean Roma Institute for Arts and Culture. Wojciech Szymanski is is an art historian and art critic, independent curator, and an editor. He is currently assistant professor at the Institute of Art History at the University of Warsaw, Poland. He co-curated Malgorzata Mirga-Tass exhibition Re-enchanting the World at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, and co-edited the publication Malgorzata Mirga-Tas: Re-enchanting the World, Berlin and Warsaw 2022.