Mikołaj Smykowski
Przegląd Kulturoznawczy, Numer 2 (52) Bio-aktywne rumowisko historii cz. I , 2022, s. 273 - 294
https://doi.org/10.4467/20843860PK.22.019.16316Bioincrustations: Mosses, Lichens and Matzevot Organic Ornaments
In the article I propose to critically rethink the process of biodeterioration. By following the inexorable growth of mosses and lichen species on Jewish heritage –especially the lapidarium of matzevot situated in the Rzuchowski Forest (former terrains of Waldlager Kulmhof) –I try to reconfigure the meaning of “green matzevah”and suggest the potential ways of understanding microbiological processes occurring on the surface of the tombstones from both ecological and cultural perspective. My goal is to show the complicity of human and non-human subjects in creating the dynamic assemblages of abiotic and organic matter that may be interpreted as a specific ornament on the surface of matzevot. I use the narrative strategy of multispecies storytelling and claim that writing history of ongoing heritage erosion is at the same time writing history of new microhabitats’emergence.