Multimedia installation
To Return To Toila is the outcome of research into the history of the Estonian side of Olga Jürgenson’s family, who were pioneer migrants from Virumaa (Estonia) to the Volga area (Russia), where they started a farm on poor sandy soil in 1869. Thanks to their hard work and resilience the new migrants had thrived in Tsarist Russia; however they lost all their land and possessions after the 1917 Revolution. In 1920, when Estonia gained independence, they all applied for Estonian citizenship, but faced the tough decision on whether to go back to Estonia, leaving behind those in the family who were not granted citizenship, or stay in Lenin’s War Communism policy devastated Russia as a whole family. In his 1920 application for Estonian citizenship Olga’s great grandfather Eduard Jürgenson mentioned his aunt’s family living in Toila as his closest relatives in Estonia, but was totally unaware that his aunt’s husband Maddis Strauch, who took part in the 1905 revolution in Estonia, had moved his family into hiding in Ukraine in order to escape persecution, where he then died in an accident in 1909. Nor did Eduard know that Maddis’ son Engelbert Strauch, who had to become the breadwinner for the family at the age of 15, had joined the Bolshevik party in Tallinn and in 1918 led over 4.5 thousand people working 16 hours shifts at Tallinn’s Military Port preparing an ex-Russian Warship fleet for evacuation from Tallinn to Helsinki to prevent it’s capture by the advancing German army. Later that year Engelbert escaped to Petrograd, Soviet Russia.
And these are just a small part of the whole story…
The installation is created specifically for NART in Narva, a border city, which became the focal transit point for Olga Jürgenson’s family.
The artist would like to thank Estonian Cultural Endowment, Estonian State Archive, Estonian Literary Museum, NART, Marina Albert, Ellen Barannikova, Yelena Belova, Anders Härm, Voldemar Jürgenson, Etna Jürgenson, Anu Korb, Aleksandra Kulikova, Frida Kurrik, Gleb Kuznetsov, Yelena Malashina, Tamara Orlova, Liisi Pabstel, Julia Polujanenkova, John Prime, Tanel Rander, Johanna Rannula, Irina Sidorova, Olesya Simberg, Elnara Taidre, Kadri Tamm, Aap Tepper, Vlasov-Simberg family, Ludmila Perlova.
Olga Jürgenson was born in Siberia, raised in Estonia, currently based in the UK.
Participant in significant group exhibitions globally, including 56th Venice Biennial, MANIFESTA 10, Liverpool, Moscow and Ural biennials. Awarded numerous grants and awards from several European foundations, in 2011 was nominated for Kandinsky Prize (Moscow, Russia). Some of her recent solo exhibitions were at the Tallinn Art Hall Gallery, Estonia (2021-2022), Espronceda Centre for Arts and Culture, Barcelona, Spain (2018), New Hall Art Collection, University of Cambridge, UK (2014), amongst others. Olga’s works are in state and private collections across the world, including British Film Institute, London (UK), The University of Cambridge (UK), Oulu Art Museum (Finland), National Centre for Contemporary Art (Russia). Olga curated the National Pavilion of Mauritius at the 56th and 57th Venice Biennale.
https://www.olgajurgenson.net
