BETWEEN THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE: RELIGIOUS THEMES OF STREET ART IN POLAND

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to explore the religious themes of street art in Poland and artistic-imaginative visualization of the religious identity of its representatives. Methodology. In the process of collecting, systematizing and acquiring the research sources, complex, structural, inductive and synergistic methods were used, which became complementary in the realization of the author's idea. At the same time, the research methodology is based on visual expertise of a number of street art works in Poland, analytical and art history methods, as well as a systematic approach. The scientific novelty of the article consists in the fact that it is one of the first attempts in domestic art history outlining the religious issues of street art in Poland, studying its content and artistic tools in understanding and interpreting current problems of society. Conclusions. The religious themes of Polish street art are quite diverse; they contain images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, saints, angels, famous figures of the Church, sacred symbolism, outstanding monuments of church architecture and fine arts, which are close in form and content to sacred prototypes. Their authors clearly identify themselves with the Roman Catholic religion and the Roman Catholic Church. These street art compositions represent not only the worldview of a narrow circle of writers,but also the wider public – a part of citizens, who are their “audience”. However, in the public space of Polish cities there are also such murals, graffiti, posters on billboards, which have a distinctly secular, anti-religious, or anti-clerical content. Almost tabooed problems in Polish society are raised, such as, for example, manifestations of anti-Semitism and xenophobia, as well as the crisis situation of the Church. The controversiality of religious issue in Polish street art is the evidence of pluralism, one of the leading features of postmodern culture.