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Anna Gajewszky

Mother Don't You Cry

Anna Gajewszky Mother Don't You Cry

This is a series based on childhood memories and reflections on family stories that have shaped Gajewszky’s identity. The title refers to a line from a Hungarian folk song in which the mother laments her daughter leaving the parental home to get married. The bride consoles her mother: this is how life goes. Anna Gajewszky’s work depicts her journey akin to the daughter embarking on her new life path, as she examines and interprets her family background from the perspective of a young adult.

A family’s story is usually passed down from generation to generation through oral histories, diaries, letters and shared memories. Each generation rewrites this story according to their own experiences, resulting in a narrative that is somewhere between fiction and reality. Knowledge is transmitted through these stories. How our ancestors lived their lives before us has often guided our own. —Anna Gajewszky’s family originates from two villages in Transylvania where strong attachments to family, traditions, and rituals influenced her upbringing. As she shaped her own life, which deviated from her ancestors’ paths, she nevertheless discovered several elements that linked her to her family’s past. Her work consists mainly of self-portraits, blending fiction and reality to document and transcend personal narratives, focusing on familial connections, rural traditions, death, traumas, and struggles with femininity and identity.

Location: ‘t Zoet Expo

Anna Gajewszky Mother Don't You Cry