On a hot August day in 2010, I attended the yearly Pastoral Fair (Jarmak pasterski) in the small village of Leśna, Southern Silesia, Poland. Amongst the exhibiting craftsmen and women, folk musicians in colourful costumes, and stands with locally-produced smoked cheeses, I spotted a woodcarver sitting quietly behind his stall, smoking a cigarette. Pride of place on his stand was a carved statue of an elderly man and woman riding a donkey, a pitcher of beer balancing on a barrel behind them, and an arrow-shaped sign pointing the way to the European Union (Unija) above their heads. Roughly hewn from a log, the squat donkey had a twig for a tail and comically over-sized head and ears. Seated first, the elderly lady held the reigns and a whip, and was painted as though she was wearing local folk costume: A blue, wax-resist print skirt, white blouse with red embroidery, and a lace-trimmed matron cap. Her bare-foot, long-haired, moustachioed husband wore a white shirt and a typical herder’s hat. However, what was most striking was that he was holding a large, carved book with words ‘Advice for European Union Management’ (Porady unijnego gazdowanio). The statue represented local perceptions of the ineptitude and wastefulness of European Union officials. However, it was the very traditional medium through which this message was conveyed – woodcarving, the costume-clad figures, and even an apparent allusion to a biblical theme –which caught my attention. By creating a conceptual link between local, Górale vernacular culture and the European project, the carving suggested that the artists saw Highland identity as a key instrument in local negotiations with wider structures of European governance.
