'Mourning diaries' it is a set of visual images portraying experiences and emotions associated with mourning. I made handmade paper processing the linen funeral clothes.
The work on them was intuitive, every day, and the process became a ritual. The material was not insignificant - unstable, delicate, vulnerable to destruction.
The same material could be repaired. A dying object could obtain a new life.
Every card (~ 8 x 13,5 cm) marked for me a one day. I linked those cards together, so days started to build weeks, then months and years, and then the time had no matter.
Objects have become a form of timelessness referring to infinity.
I used irritant and corrosive substances to obtain specific images. To stop and recover those processes I used other, smoothening substances.
The images are the result of a structural destruction and repetitive 'healing'. They react and change over time under the influence of external conditions.

The current length of the elements is more than 100 meters.
Some of them have a form resembling a folded book, others are partially open, others are in the form of flat cards.
Together they construct a single narrative line surrounding the space, dividing the view, defining the horizon.

Work on that installation is still in progress (since 2017).

Dedicated to my mom Małgorzata Mydlak (1958-2003)


Mourning diaries
size of one page: ~ 8 x 13.5 cm
installation length: currently more than 100 meters
materials: flax cellulose, various substances
technique: handmade paper


We are currently working with French artist and music composer Yann Deval on scanning the images from the Mourning diaries cycle
and transforming them into musical notation to be able to hear their sounds.


MORE PHOTOS:
MYDLAK STUDIO / Barbara Mydlak / Mourning diaries

MORE INFORMATION:
Barbara Mydlak (Poland) / Cycle Mourning diaries
Barbara Mydlak | Mourning diaries
Mourning diaries – exhibition at St. Martin street
Artworks in the Collection of the Museum of Papermaking in Duszniki-Zdroj


Special thanks to: Mikołaj Szczęsny, Ewa Latkowska-Żychska, Magdalena Soboń, Emilia Szymańska, Paulina Sadrak, Yann Deval