Against Representation and Other Traps. “Black Skin, White Masks” by Wiktor Bagiński

Against representation and other traps In her article, created on the basis of her master’s thesis White Skin, Black Masks. Selected Representations of Blackness and Whiteness in Polish Contemporary Theatre (Biała skóra, czarne maski. Wybrane reprezentacje Czarności i białości w polskim teatrze współczesnym), Mazurkiewicz reflects on contemporary representations of Blackness and whiteness in Polish theatre using the example of the performance Black Skin, White Masks (Czarna skóra, białe maski) directed by Wiktor Baginski. The author defines the key concepts of the argument, i.e. Blackness and whiteness based on the work of researchers Michelle M. Wright, Reni Eddo-Lodge and Emma Dabiri, and provides a local context to these concepts by applying to them the categories of centre and semi-periphery drawn from the writings of Maria Janion, Dorota Sajewska and Andrzej W. Nowak, in search of answers to the questions of what specifically characterises Polish racism and what the scope of the Polish anti-racist discourse is. In a detailed analysis of Black Skin, White Masks, the author examines the story within a story structure of the play and the representation of ‘race’ that is actuated by Baginski as a performative construct. She cites the peculiarly semi-peripheral story of the visits of Black slaves to the courts of the Polish nobility, which is staged in the first part of the performance, and summarises the self-theatrical discussion of the ‘Racists Anonymous group’ moderated by the stage porte-parole of the director in the second part. When interpreting Baginski’s role, the author concludes that the artist consistently strives for his own individuality and seeks to resign from representing Black Poles despite his unique position as the only Black Polish theatre director. The author critiques the tools that Baginski uses to achieve this goal, i.e. misogyny and the affective reproduction of violence against women. She proposes an intersectional view of racism.