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"i am from nowhere"Andy Warhol
"Our mother used to often talk to us about Mikova, about
her going by wagon to Medzilaborce" Nobody can say now, whether Andy Warhol was serious about these words when answering the question "Where are you from?" His answer may have been one of his numerous mysterious jokes he liked to tell. If he did not really know his origins, then nothing would be right about what his brothers and close relatives say about him and his family. We have trust them as it is Andy Warhol, on his character. They - his brothers, cousins, uncles, aunts - are Ruthenian like Warhol himself.
Their roots are in the picturesque Slovakian
village of Mikova. Warhol never saw Mikova, but he heard about
it a lot. When his brother John told him, he was going home
to Slovakia, Andy said: "Take as many snaps as possible for me".
Welcome to the Warhol Family Museum of Modern Art in Medzilaborce and to Andy Warhol's parents', Julia and Andrej Warhola's home. |
Unfortunately, it was on February 22 1987, half a year before
John's actual visit to Mikova, that Warhol died. John Warhola
visited his parents' native country on September 17 1987. Wishing
to show respect for his brother Andy, his mother and father,
John Warhola started a project for, as he put it, preserving
the memory of his brother, mother and father. This memory has
been materialized in the Warhol Family Museum of Modern Art.
The effort it took to found this Museum is known only to those
who were calling it into existence, who were defending the idea
of having it even during the most crucial moments.