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Meet Matthew and Mariya!
Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova were in Poland from 15 to 22 July, taking part in an artistic residency organised as part of the TTTM Thinking Through the Museum programme. During their stay, they worked on a new theatre project entitled Postmemory of Ethnocide.
Together with Michael Rubenfeld, they are developing a deeply personal story about memory, identity, forced displacement and the dream of returning home.
Matthew is a playwright and a member of the Métis community. His family history has been shaped by the loss of land, forced displacement and the erasure of Métis identity across generations.
Mariya Khomutova is a Ukrainian actor and playwright from Odesa. She brings to the project the perspective of someone whose hometown and homeland are currently facing war, as well as attempts to erase their culture, history and language.
Michael Rubenfeld is a Canadian Jewish artist and the co-founder and co-director of FestivALT. He has lived in Kraków for many years and works to support the revival of Jewish culture in Poland — the country his family left before the Second World War.
The intertwining stories of all three artists become a starting point for a narrative about the loss of home and heritage, but also about reclaiming memory and hope. Matthew and Mariya are the writers and performers of the award-winning production First Métis Man of Odesa.
The residency was part of the wider Thinking Through the Museum programme and was organised in collaboration with the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
