The campus of the University of Silesia in Katowice has been enriched with a new mural. It is located on the building of the Faculty of Humanities (on the side facing the parking lot between the Rectorate and the faculty).
The mural depicts a Remora fish, which was described in the first Polish encyclopedia – New Athens by Benedykt Chmielowski (yes, the book with the famous line ‘A horse is what everyone sees’). The fish was said to to cling to the hulls of ships, halting them in their tracks (‘they paint the fish that stops the great ship’). The author describes the damage the Remora supposedly caused to people, but the engraving of the fish, which served as the basis for the mural, has been transformed to reflect the current situation of marine animals. A plastic bottle has become stuck on the horn of the mythical creature, and the inscription ‘this fish can cause great harm’ has been changed to ‘great harm can be done to this fish.’
The mural was created by Bartosz Piórkowski, a student at the University of Silesia, and Jan Wojtaś, a student at the Academy of Fine Arts, who collaborate as a collective under the name ‘Mural Factory.’
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Mural on the building of the Faculty of Humanities | photo: Przemysław Kowal