Locomotive / IDEOLO

Plot

The Locomotive, by Julian Tuwim, is one the most famous Polish poems for children. Designer Małgorzata Gurowska and journalist Joanna Ruszczyk present its graphic and literary reinterpretation for adults. Tuwim’s poem stimulates the imagination with a description of contents in wagons of a train sitting at a station. Although the poet is remembered today primarily as the author of poetry for children, he is also renowned as a satirist who critically described the political-social reality of his time. Gurowska and Ruszczyk, in The Locomotive/IDEOLO, make reference to Tuwim’s social awareness and frequently uncompromising stance, using the text of his poem as a framework for presenting their own position concerning the situation in present-day. In their version, the railway wagons are full of Jews, aggressive football fans, soldiers, gays and lesbians, animals, as well as inanimate objects. It is all accompanied by political commentary, summarizing inequality and social injustice. In this way, the authors challenge not only Polish reality with difficult questions about national identity, racism, anti-Semitism, and attitudes towards ecology and animals.