“I Live Here and I Leave” mural

Technique: monumental painting, acrylic paints

Object:

The entire surface of the mural is filled with portraits of men and women emerging from irregular, black geometric forms. The images form horizontal rows, with the faces in the largest scape placed in the bottom part of the composition. In the upper parts of the painting, the faces becomes smaller with every row, becoming almost invisible at the top. Mikołaj Harmoza’s composition titled “I Live Here and I Leave” was made in a rage of greys, purples, browns and pale pinks.

The portraits include representations of local residents, e.g. the owner of the shop on whose wall the work is painted and accidental passers-by portrayed by the artist when he was working on this large-format work. It is not by accident, though, that to the left of the composition we see the image of Günter Grass, renowned writer, Nobel Prize winner, and one of the most famous residents of Wrzeszcz, whose family home was at 13 Labesweg before the war, currently named Joachima Lelewela Street. Grass is depicted en trois quarts with a characteristic wooden pipe in his mouth.

The mural was created to accompany the first edition of Grassomania Festival – Identity of Place (1-31 October 2009) organised by the Gdańsk City Gallery and curated by Maria Sasin. The festival, attended by Günter Grass himself, boasted a number of cultural events: exhibitions, performances, meetings and concerts dedicated to the Nobel Prize winner’s oeuvre. This was also the official opening of the Gdańsk Günter Grass Gallery on Szeroka Street, a branch of the Gdańsk City Museum.

The mural with Günter Grass’ portrait, reminding residents of the district of the authenticity and originality of this place, was partially damaged and painted over in the late 2021. New writings appeared on some fragments at the bottom.

Place:

The mural is located on the side wall of a small free-standing service building (multi-purpose store) where Joachima Lelewela Street in Lower Wrzeszcz – the street where Günter Grass spent his childhood and youth – joins Gen. Józefa Wybickiego Square. Near the mural, on Wybickiego Square, stands a bench with sculptures depicting Günter Grass and Oskar Matzerath, the protagonist of one of the writer’s most famous books, The Tin Drum.

Information about the author:

Mikołaj Amadeusz Harmoza (b. 1973 in Wałbrzych) is a painter, draughtsman and educator.

He completed the Secondary School of Fine Arts in Gdynia and studied at the Faculty of Painting, Prof. Mieczysław Olszewski’s studio, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, graduating with honours in 1999. Since 2002, he has been working at his alma mater, running the Drawing Studio for design studies. Since 2003, he has arranged his works in series based on their subject: Walls Have Ears (2003–2008), Conjectured Portraits (2003), The Polish Moustache (2005–2008), Pars Pro Toto (2011), Around the Portrait (2012–2013), Hypothetical Portraits (2013).

Condition of the object: damaged, awaiting renovation

Owner/guardian: privately owned

Author of the entry: Andrzej Zagrobelny