| dc.description.abstract | In her 2009 artwork Invisible Women of Solidarity , the Croatian artist Sanja Iveković arranges a series of seemingly plain monochromatic white images that, on a closer look, reveal subtly darker parts gradually forming shapes that are neither obvious nor easy to identify. Still closer inspection shows that the white surface of the paintings conceals contours of heads and shoulders. From the accompanying text we learn that the depicted figures are Anna Bikont, Krystyna Starczewska, Ewa Kulik-Bielińska, Aldona Klimczak, Krystyna Bratkowska and Magdalena Tulli – female activists of the 1980 Polish movement Solidarity. As its title suggests, the artwork refers to the elusive presence of these figures within contemporary popular memory. Rather than retrieving the narratives of these women by representing their particular stories, Iveković’s piece suggests the enormous obstacles facing an inclusive and open memory of Solidarity and thus tells a story historians would do well to heed. | en |