ODYSSEY by Robert Koenig

ODYSSEY consists of a crowd of 32 monumental wood figures , each 2.5m tall. Most of these male and female figures were carved in the village of Dominikowice in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in South East Poland between 1997 – 2002.

The lime trees grew in the artist’s mother’s home village and had their roots where the artist has his. The figures symbolise the artist’s ancestors. ODYSSEY is a search for ancestral and sculptural roots.

ODYSSEY is being continuously enlarged with figures carved from trees local to the exhibition venues during the UK 2007/08 tour.

ODYSSEY is undertaking a spiritual journey following a route taken by the artist’s mother in 1942 from her home village of Dominikowice in Poland, through Krakow, the Nazi slave labour camps in Germany during WW2 and on to the UK where she settled after the War.

ODYSSEY has toured various towns and cities relevant to family history. These include Lwow in the Ukraine, Tarnow, Krakow, Gorlice and Zakopane in Southern Poland. The carvings were placed for short periods on street corners, squares, in front of churches, cathedrals where they were filmed and photographed and where they could meet the local communities directly.

ODYSSEY deals with important issues of migration, forced or voluntary. During its journey it bears witness to past events, on a family level, a national and international level. It can represent many people’s experiences. It talks about heritage, belonging, displacement and people’s place in the world.

This project which started out as a search for Polish ancestral roots is taking on a pan-European and universal dimension.

In 2007 Odyssey was exhibited in Chichester Cathedral, Portsmouth Cathedral, Milton Keynes Church of Christ the Cornerstone, Rochester Cathedral and Stockport Art Gallery.

Robert Koenig was born in Manchester in 1951. He studied sculpture at Brighton Polytechnic and the Slade School of Art in London. He exhibits widely and regularly works on public sculpture commissions. He is an Associate Member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.

www.robertkoenig-sculptor.com

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