We warmly invite you to the exhibition at the Borderland House gallery: Anita Piotrowska – Stories from the Heart of the Oak.
“Beyond galleries. Beyond buildings. Beyond the Valley of the Yews.
Beyond Wasilków and Horodniany.
Beyond road number 8.
There is the Forest – the Knyszyńska Forest.
And there grows a huge, ancient oak.
The greatest storyteller in the whole forest.
It knows stories older than our villages, towns, and roads – tales carried by the wind, preserved in rings, written in roots.
When we close our eyes and listen to its whisper, extraordinary worlds open before us: full of magic, forest creatures, and mysteries waiting to be discovered.
The Knyszyńska Forest is the place where I grew up, where I learned to listen and discovered that every tree has its own story. It is from this love for the Podlasie forest that this exhibition was born.
Stories from the Heart of the Oak is a record of my forest wanderings, which led me deeper and deeper – into nature, imagination, and ancient worlds. You will encounter characters inspired by the Slavic bestiary, as well as figures born during my walks. It is also my journey through various puppet forms and techniques that allowed these beings to come to life.
I invite you to enter this space – to search, discover, and experience these stories, and then take them further along your own forest paths.
May this exhibition become the beginning of your own discoveries.”