Oliwia Bosomtwe

Visual Description: The book is placed on a pedestal and next to it there is a translation from Polish to English of chapter 1 entitled When I Was White: Memory Exercises.

Curatorial Description: A Polish woman in her forties travels to Kenya to meet her father’s family for the first time. A Senegalese student arrives in Poland before the Berlin Wall falls and stays. The son of an unknown American marine, born nine months after WWII, immigrates to Chicago only to understand his true identity is Polish. A dark-skinned Polish aristocrat, a schoolmate of Napoleon, fights for Polish independence and dies in the Haitian Revolution. A Black comrade of Thaddeus Kosciuszko remains with Polish aristocrats when his friend sails to America, never to return. Like the White Man by Oliwia Bosomtwe explores the stories of people of African descent who were born in Poland, chose it as their homeland, or visited briefly. This non-fiction work describes what it means to be Black in a predominantly white society, surrounded by stereotypes, fantasies, and imaginations about Blackness. The Ghanaian-descended author reveals the complex history of race relations from the 18th century to today in a country where the Black population remains largely unknown.

About

Oliwia Bosomtwe (b. 1991) is the author of Like the White Man. The Story of Poles and the Others (2024), a non-fiction book describing what it means to be Black in a predominantly white society, revealing the complex history of race relations in Poland from the 18th century to today. She was the editor-in-chief at Noizz (Ringier Axel Springer). Her writing has been featured in Vogue, Newsweek, and other publications. Half Polish, half Ghanaian. She was born and raised in Poland, where she lives.