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 2016).

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 LAMENTS by scanning the images from the Mourning diaries cycle
and transforming them into musical notation to be able to hear their sounds.

Selected venues where the project has been exhibited:
Galerie Pierre, Taichung, Taiwan
P_art Gallery, Polish Institute in Vienna, Austria
BLANCO, Ghent, Belgium
Beijing 81 Art Museum, Beijing, China
Zhejiang Art Museum (ZAM), Hangzhou, China
Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
BFC Art Festival, Shanghai, China
White Art Space Gallery, Shanghai, China
Museum of Contemporary Art in Torun, Poland
Central Museum of Textiles, Lodz, Poland
Podbrzezie Gallery, Cracow, Poland
Book Art Museum, Lodz, Poland
Jak Gallery, Poznan, Poland
Historical Museum in Bielsko-Biala, Stara Fabryka, Bielsko-Biala, Poland
Museum of Papermaking in Duszniki-Zdroj, Poland
Pesti Vigadó Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
Východočeská Gallery, Padrubice, Czech Republic
Gallery Moravian Museum, Uherske Hradiste, Czech Republic
Turiec Gallery, Martin, Slovak Republic
Tatra Gallery, Poprad, Slovak Republic
Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava, Slovak Republic


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