IPG is an experimental collaborative project of the artists Yoshi and Tamara Kametani. Yoshi and Tamara started IPG in 2010 and are currently based in New Jersey. IPG projects are initiated by personal interest and curiosity for experience. ![]()
In Search of the Crying Lady
Plačky [platchki] were professional mourners that used to be an essential part of the Slovak death ritual. They were hired by the family of the deceased and would start the mourning process by coming to the house where the body was laid out and lament until the day of the funeral. The ritual was seen to possess magical powers that would secure a respectful departure of the deceased’s spirit from the house and from this world. Plačky were usually older women – often widows that would perform in return for financial remuneration but also for beans or wheat.
In the summer of 2011 we set off for Slovakia to search for these professional mourners. We received encouragement from ethnographers who gave us a list of villages where they had conducted research on the subject. Along the way we talked with several people who insisted that the tradition was still alive, but couldn't tell us much more about it. Denying they had anything to do with it, they directed us towards smaller villages further towards the east of the country, an area mostly occupied by fields and forests. There seemed to have been a strong sense of negativity attached to this old tradition. No one wanted to be associated with it. Despite what people told us, we couldn’t find the Plačky anywhere. It almost felt as though we were searching for Big Foot. We were chasing something that no longer existed. It seemed that the tradition had disappeared before anyone that we encountered had realized.
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In Search of the Crying Lady essentially became a collection of moments that crossed our path along the road to failure. After our long search, we ended up finding only one trace of the Plačky This was in a journal we found in a library that contained mourning songs that would have been sung by Plačky at funerals. We had it translated. The idiosyncratic nature of the translation only left us further intrigued and perplexed…
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You can purchase their book on their website, for more information, please visit ipgproject.com.
In Search of the Crying Lady
Plačky [platchki] were professional mourners that used to be an essential part of the Slovak death ritual. They were hired by the family of the deceased and would start the mourning process by coming to the house where the body was laid out and lament until the day of the funeral. The ritual was seen to possess magical powers that would secure a respectful departure of the deceased’s spirit from the house and from this world. Plačky were usually older women – often widows that would perform in return for financial remuneration but also for beans or wheat.
In the summer of 2011 we set off for Slovakia to search for these professional mourners. We received encouragement from ethnographers who gave us a list of villages where they had conducted research on the subject. Along the way we talked with several people who insisted that the tradition was still alive, but couldn't tell us much more about it. Denying they had anything to do with it, they directed us towards smaller villages further towards the east of the country, an area mostly occupied by fields and forests. There seemed to have been a strong sense of negativity attached to this old tradition. No one wanted to be associated with it. Despite what people told us, we couldn’t find the Plačky anywhere. It almost felt as though we were searching for Big Foot. We were chasing something that no longer existed. It seemed that the tradition had disappeared before anyone that we encountered had realized.
In Search of the Crying Lady essentially became a collection of moments that crossed our path along the road to failure. After our long search, we ended up finding only one trace of the Plačky This was in a journal we found in a library that contained mourning songs that would have been sung by Plačky at funerals. We had it translated. The idiosyncratic nature of the translation only left us further intrigued and perplexed…
You can purchase their book on their website, for more information, please visit ipgproject.com.