“When I see cotton, I see red.” Discursive program of the Museum of Art in Łódź

Can the old bonds of violence that bind us to Black America become bonds of memory and solidarity?

Łódź, the first industrial metropolis of Polish lands, owes its rapid development to cotton — a plant that does not grow in Poland.

From the dawn of the 19th century, the English-born textile industry based its flourishing on the supply of extremely cheap cotton from the USA. In the fields of the South it was cultivated by enslaved people.

In Łódź, too, behind the fortunes of the first fabricators was not only the labors of the Łódź yarns and weavers, but also the murderous slaughter of women, men and children in Alabama or Georgia. The abolition of slavery in 1865 meant formal freedom there, but it did not end the extreme exploitation sustained by lynchings and pogroms.

Although at the beginning of the 20th century, the Łódź spinning mills began to predominate supplies of raw material from the territories conquered by Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia, in the interwar period the vast majority of cotton came here from the USA. In 1945, the Iron Curtain finally made Łódź dependent on crops in present-day Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan, and it is with them that Lodz textiles are most often associated.

Is it possible today to recover the lost memory of the transatlantic connections that dominated throughout the 19th century? How to make visible Łódź's ties with the history of Black America, its work and its resistance? The Museum of Art in Lodz, like many local cultural institutions, is located within the walls of former palaces and factories that grew out of these interdependencies. Does this history impose on us today a special responsibility towards past and future generations?

The initiator and curator of the program is Olga Stanisławska, an essayist and reporter, interested in the subject of colonialism and multiculturalism. For many years, the museum building was partly her family home — together with her parents, art historians, she lived in the side wing of the former Maurycy Poznański palace. Since 2024, he has been exploring the American roots of the development of his hometown. In February 2026, Dwutygodnik published her text “Łódź. Transatlantic History.”

“When I See Cotton I See Red” (2017) — a work by John E. Dowell on the facade of ms1 in the former palace of M. Poznański at 36 Więckowskiego Street.

When: from October 22 to 31, 2026

Where: ms1, ul. Gdańska 43

“Transatlantic boat. Bonds of memory, bonds of solidarity?” — open conversation.

Guests: dr Katarzyna Bojarska, Oliwia Bosomtwe, dr Wiktor Marzec and all present

The meeting will be hosted by: Olga Stanisławska

Where: ms1, 43 Gdańska Street, educational room

When: Friday, October 23, 2026, at 18:00

Admission: 5 zł

“Visible/invisible. Walking the Traces of Transatlantic Connections”

Leaders: Justyna Tomaszewska and Olga Stanisławska

Route: from Old Town Square to ms1

When: October 24, Saturday, 12:00

Library of Black America - a selection of books and documentation in free access at the Fave Cafe, ms1.

“The Garden of Resistance” is a botanical installation in the Herbst Palace Museum, commemorating beds cultivated for their own use by enslaved people. Cotton, okra, sage — these are just some of the plants that help to survive, recover the pathogen, cultivate culture and build communities. Admission with a ticket to the permanent exhibition or to the garden at the Herbst Palace Museum.

We also encourage you to familiarize yourself with the accompanying program of the exhibition “Nine moons over the cotton field. Łódź and Central Asia” at the Central Textile Museum in Łódź: https://cmwl.pl/public/aktualnosci/program-towarzyszacy-do-wystawy-dziewiec-ksiezycow-nad-polem-bawelny-lodz-i-azja-srodkowa,475