Inhabitants of the Non-Sites of Memory: A Guardian Mole (by Czesław Miłosz) and Crawling Death (by Zdzisław Beksiński)

The aim of this study is to take a new look at artistic representations of the Non-Sites of Memory, proposing a comparative analysis of two creatures – presented as new survivors or old arrivals on the post-war/post-apocalyptic scene. A guardian mole (poem Poor Christian Looks at the Ghetto by Czesław Miłosz, 1944) and Crawling Death (Without title, a painting by Zdzisław Beksiński, 1975) bring to life yet-human and sub-human figures and represent two ideas of being a witness/bystander, while also constituting a general commentary on the various ways that memory and remembrance work in the personal life of the artist.