05/02/2021
It has been ten years! My God! How quickly this time passes. In order to survive I did my best to honor your life, Justysia. I organized several exhibitions dedicated to you. I wanted to honor you, my daughter, and to show the world who you were, and how you influenced the people around you. I wanted not only to present your work but also to commemorate your achievements.
It was an immense effort for which I had to prepare myself thoroughly. I had your works framed and the captions printed. I prepared their chronological list. It was truly extensive, and it proved how hardworking you were. With you in mind I prepared a computer presentation showing your life’s work. I also made the decorations. Today, when I think of those days, I feel really proud.
On your thirtieth birthday, on February 15th, 2015, I organized the first exhibition in the Ballroom of The School of Art Institute of Chicago, your Alma Mater and the place you felt so attached to. That was something wonderful. Your brother Sebastian helped with the technical and organizational aspects of the event. I devised the artistic program in which Irada Zeinalova, a German gymnast presented your life in a dance to Raul Di Blasio’s piece of music titled Corazon de Niño. Your Brother Tomasz, who was inspired by your last school project, wrote and recited a poem entitled Deadline. Igor Lipinski, a pianist, played some music by your favorite composer, Chopin. The second exhibition, based on a similar scenario, took place in Germany, on September 9th, at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, a city in which you grew up. In 2016, on June 16th, there was another exhibition in Wrocław. The event was part of the European Capital of Culture program. It was hosted at the famous Barbara’s Gallery near the Świdnica Underpass. On September 7th of the same year the exhibition was also held at Nowa Huta Cultural Center in Kraków, the city of your birth.
At the exhibitions I presented my book about you titled She Simply Disappeared. It is a story about a wise and beautiful girl, about you, my daughter, who went through life full of energy and faith, and who, unfortunately, was not meant to harvest the fruit of her work and projects. All these events attracted a lot of interest. After listening to excerpts of the book, the guests were always truly moved and they shared their impressions with me. They emphasized what a great thing it was to celebrate the memory of the Daughter-Artist – a wonderful, young woman who even after her death inspired other people to action. They were moved both by your thoughts and words, Justyna, and by my love for you, which I try to express through words and actions.
All these events and meetings greatly impressed the audience. Thanks to them I also met many wonderful people. Professor Krivanek from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago had tears in his eyes when he was talking about your academic success. Susan Hanes, the President of the Caxton Club in Chicago, together with the entire Board of the world’s oldest bibliophilic club, were so inspired by your talent, that they unanimously funded a special subsidy for a student of Visual Communication at the SAIC. The General Director of Ogilvy & Mather, Jack Rooney, told me that the company would proudly continue the tradition of awarding a scholarship bearing your name to the SAIC’s outstanding students. Jessica Lodzinski, on her part, while graduating from journalism at Loyola University Chicago, wrote her diploma thesis about my emigration to the USA and about you. I also considered exceptional the program titled The Champions of Life: About the Fullness of Life and the Art of Accompanying prepared and run by Dr. Agnieszka Janiak, a communication specialist and thanatologist from the University of Lower Silesia in Wrocław. It made me realize that in spite of the pain of the loss I had to appreciate the fact how much goodness you had left behind. I must convert this tragedy into something that brings benefits to other people. Even though I miss you so much, I feel ever so proud.
I also gave many interviews to numerous radio stations in Poland and in the USA, including the following ones:
- to Dina Bari from WGN 9 American Television,
- for Faces of America, episode 650/2, with Sławek Sobczak; shooting by Mirosław Kierski (in 2015),
- to Sławek Budzik from DEON 1080AM Radio,
- to Tatiana Kotasińska from WPNA 1490AM Radio,
- to Małgorzata Ptaszyńska from the Polish Radio 1030AM,
- to Małgorzata Błaszczuk in connection with the Women’s Day celebrations, in the program titled We Polish Mothers, the Heroines of Everyday Life – together with Renata Dominika and Dorota Rutkowski-Kopko (May 23rd, 2019),
- for onet.pl Internet portal, titled She Simply Disappeared – A Story of Justyna Palka Through the Eyes of Her Mother (October 7th, 2015),
- for The Column with Joanna Kurowska,
- to Alicja Otap from the Polish Daily News in Chicago.
I also presented my book at the BEA (BookExpoAmerica) book fairs in Chicago (May 16th, 2016).
In 2019, to commemorate your birthday I funded the restoration of your favorite painting, Red-Haired Girl by Tadeusz Pruszkowski (1939), from the collections of the Polish Museum of America in Chicago (May 15th, 2019).
I still work on several spectacular projects of which I now want to mention just one: in the second half of November 2021, with family and friends I shall decorate with ornaments in your favorite colors (blue, white, and silver) a huge Christmas tree standing next to the fountain in Chicago’s Brookfield ZOO.