photos credit: Artur Pławski

HONORING THE WHITE AND BLACK PRZEMSZA RIVERS

2025, happening

Balsamic Garden III workshop, Mysłowice, PL

Today, as we look again into your channels, we hear your voice – quiet, yet present.

You speak of transformation, of life’s return, of renewal.

You teach us that even what has been degraded can once again become a space of relation, breath for other species, a meeting ground of humans and nature.

You teach us that a river does not forget – but it does not close itself to change.

That every river – even buried, poisoned, forgotten – holds within itself the power of rebirth.

Let this ritual be a gesture of elevation – an acknowledgment of your personhood, your suffering, and your right to exist.

Excerpt from Ritual of Honoring and Healing the Rivers Rawa and Brynica text read during the happening

Multi-day intergenerational workshop and public ritual honoring Upper Silesia's White and Black Przemsza rivers. Co-facilitated with Eunji Lee, Agata Szymanek, and Kamil Cebula, this third Balsamic Garden iteration brought together senior women from Tychy to explore ecofeminism, performance art, queer ecology, and community activation through practice. Through working with Korean paper, breath, mindfulness, dialogue, and micro-performative experiments, we collectively questioned who holds the authority to celebrate and conduct rituals, what deserves celebration, and through what means. The project culminated in a public happening at the rivers' confluence—a ceremonial gathering employing deliberate gestures, symbolic actions, and tableaux vivants o extend recognition and respect to the local aquatic ecosystem and honor water's sustaining role in communal life.

Intentional and conscious water drinking excercise 

Paper river of images and words created during the workshop had been installed in the space of the ceremony

Creating the altar from leaves, sweets, fruits and locally harvested wildflowers

photos credid: Artur Pławski