Open House: Joseph Conrad’s Polish-Ukrainian “Graveyard”: Memory, Mourning, and Anti-Colonial Resistance in his 19th-Century Family Photo Album

Exhibit curators Ernest Zitser and Kimmi Kresica will share their re-examination of Conrad's portable memorial to the land and people he left behind, followed by a guest lecture by George Z. Gasyna, Arlys Conrad Humanities Scholar, Associate Professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and the Program in Comparative and World Literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Visitors will then be welcomed to tour the exhibit with the event speakers from 2:15 - 3:30pm.

About the exhibition:
This new library exhibit seeks to educate visitors about the little-known Polish-Ukrainian roots of the author of The Heart of Darkness. Focusing on the family photo album that that the orphaned victim of Russian imperialism carried with him into permanent exile, the exhibit explores the role of early eastern European photography in commemorating acts of political resistance and mourning the trauma of collective and personal loss. In doing so, it also provides the historical background necessary for understanding the present-day military conflict in Ukraine.

Joseph Conrad's Polish-Ukrainian "Graveyard" can be viewed online and in the Michael and Karen Stone Family Gallery of Duke University's David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library between October 8, 2024 and April 5, 2025.

This event made possible, in part, by the generous support of the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation Endowment Fund and Duke University's Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies.