Shared Homes
Thinking about identity reveals a process – something formed in movement, through migration, relationships, and daily choices. Identity shifts with the place, language, and community where we seek to establish roots. It stands as a testament to the journey from the memory of a lost home to the forging of a new one – a journey that, in recent years, thousands of people arriving in Poland from Ukraine have undertaken.
Too often, the experience of Ukraine is reduced to a handful of recurring images: the front line, displacement, and trauma. Although these are real stories, they often overshadow the complex everyday lives of people living alongside us – in the same cities, schools, and neighbourhoods. Migration – whether forced by war or earlier driven by economic necessity – is not merely a change of place, but a prolonged process inscribed in the body. It takes the form of ‘slow violence’: unspectacular, operating through stress, a sense of loss, and the daily struggle to navigate a new reality.
War and migration on an unprecedented scale have made questions of belonging resonate more strongly than ever today. What does it mean to be part of the Ukrainian community in Poland? Are we regarded merely as transient visitors, or do we truly belong as an integral part of society? And how do we come to define ourselves within this ever-changing reality? These questions have served as the point of departure for the conception of this exhibition.
As a curator, I have often asked myself about the right to speak: can I tell stories of war and the loss of home without having experienced them in the same way? This doubt has remained with me – and I did not want it to fade, for it was precisely this uncertainty that compelled me to seek a different approach to my work.
‘Shared Homes’ is not an exhibition that merely depicts the Ukrainian community, but a project created collaboratively – with children, parents, artists, educators, and researchers. My task was to listen attentively and respond to the process, rather than confining it within a single, top-down narrative. This approach allowed the participants to engage with themes of migration, memory, and tradition in an empowered, autonomous manner, employing a diverse range of media and artistic strategies. For this reason, the foundation of the project became the creation of a safe space, where both adults and children could work at their own pace and in their own language – free from the pressure to tell a ‘correct’ or expected story.
The exhibition grows out of a long-term workshop process, carried out at the National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw in collaboration with the Ukrainian House Foundation. The collaborative work of Polish and Ukrainian artists with families who have experienced migration was not merely an educational activity; above all, it became a method of building trust and shared responsibility for the final form of the project.
At the heart of this collaboration lay the experience of giving and receiving welcome – a reality made all the more present in our lives since the outbreak of the full-scale war. Here, we understand hospitality as a daily, active practice – one that requires time, attentiveness, and a willingness to learn from one another. It was in the kitchen, through shared cooking, that the significance of this relationship resonated most profoundly.
The works presented here bear witness to these encounters. Motifs of shelter and landscape intertwine here with personal stories. Ceramic puzzles come together to form an image of a community shaped by a multitude of experiences, while children’s works and collages speak to fundamental needs: safety, the experience of loss, and the nurturing of hope.
In working on this exhibition, I could not overlook the history of Crimea or the perspective of the Crimean Tatars. For many of them, the experience of losing one’s home, of forced displacement, and of living in dispersion did not begin in 2014 – it has endured for generations. Without this history, it is difficult to speak of Ukraine in a way that is both honest and complete.
In this project, the museum becomes a place of encounter, a shared home – co-created by people with diverse experiences and histories.
Ivanna Berchak
