What is Lemko/Rusyn Art and Does it Matter?

Abstract

The article reviews and reflects on the concept of Lemko/Rusyn art, aiming to obtain a general overview of the process of integrating ethnic perceptions about one’s art/culture into the field of modernity. Said reflection is based on the author’s experience in filling the cultural heritage of the community with texts interpreted in the code of indigenous values, which are given ethnic meanings and goals and are presented as a living process of identity building based on the continuity of community memory. On the basis of answers to questions from a survey sent to opinion-makers and interviews in which questions were asked about the meaning and content of the concept of Lemko/Rusyn art, as well as about the limits of this concept, the paper develops a reflection on the dilemmas, challenges, functions, exclusions and appropriations within the identity art of smaller communities that do not have institutional security for their cultural achievements. Furthermore, the article showcases a folklore mechanism operating based on the aesthetics of identity, which replaces institutions in delineating the boundaries of self versus other, by adapting external elements to one’s own, cohesive system of values, or in going beyond community boundaries on one’s own terms, without losing the connection with the native ground. The conclusion from these considerations is the statement that the mechanism of Lemko/Rusyn culture is still alive, which allows the community to face the challenges of the present day thanks to the modernity of values and cultural goods that empower and represent it.