Rafael Ayuso - Instytut Pileckiego

Grants / Fellows

Rafael Ayuso

Born in Tarragona (Spain) in 1981. European wanderer living in Warsaw. Sometimes a moving image artist and often a film archivist.  He holds a BA in Audiovisual Communication from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and an MA in Film Studies and Film Archiving from the University of East Anglia in Norwich (UK).

His creative work explores his situation as a migrant, often in confessional first-person works. As a film conservator, he gained most of his knowledge working at the Imperial War Museum (Cambridge) and preserving early film material at the Filmoteka Narodowa in Warsaw. Contact with the British and Polish realities turned his interest towards the conflicts of the 20th century in Europe.

The project supported by the Pilecki Institute concerns the massacres carried out by the German occupiers in Butrymonys (Lithuania). In 1941, the Jewish population, including Polish refugees and Polish Jewish helpers, were exterminated by firing squads.  The proposed research addresses three main areas: the victims (how many there were, who they were), the murderers (investigation of criminal cases) and the sites associated with Jewish life (Jewish property, religious buildings, businesses and mass graves). The results of this work will be reflected in a documentary film.