Obcość jako kategoria analityczna w badaniach nad polską emigracją artystyczną

Biographical interviews conducted among Polish émigré artists revealed several key categories.
One of them is the strangeness, which turned out to be a complex and multifaceted
category. In “mythologies” of artists the feeling of strangeness, otherness, and even
hostility of the outside world reveals itself very often and becomes part of biography
and ethos of an artist. Emigration generally exacerbates this condition. However, the
emigrant experiences strangeness not only in a new place of residence, the prolonged
absence from the home country also has its own consequences. As a result, very often
they experience double strangeness: in their left home country and in the new place of
residence. However, that does not mean, that feeling of strangeness connects only with
suffering. Many artists are able to take advantage of this inconvenience, finding in this state
their matter, subject, stimulation for creative work. These artists continually derive inspiration
from being a stranger. In the article by referring to the collected biographical data
I would like to show different trajectories of foreignness and various creative strategies
used by artists emigrants. Strangeness will be shown as a key category in the description
of their biographical experience but also as not entirely unambiguous category.