Kara Linasielka [1987] A
Biography
I am the grand-daughter of an alcoholic woman
At age six my mother and her boyfriend take me to Austria, to escape from the poverty in Poland
At age twelve my schoolteacher informs the Child Protection Service that my stepfather is abusing me
At age twelve I enjoy the kindness and attention of the counselors at the crisis center
At age thirteen I run away from home and seek the protection of a children’s home
At age fourteen my mother is not willing to leave my brother’s father for me
At age fourteen my mother regularly comes to visit me in the home and brings me sweets
At age fifteen I am an aggressive child, fight with my carers and refuse to adjust
At age fifteen I smoke marijuana and drink alcohol, together with other children in the home
At age sixteen I take XTC and speed, am transferred to a boarding school and adapt to the drug-use of the other girls who live there
At age sixteen I steal a dealer’s hash, copy his behaviour, feel proud of my power as a drug dealer and can afford to take unlimited quantities of heroin
At age seventeen I am given a prison sentence and my lover insists that I change my life
At age eighteen I wander the streets, seek out the company of other foreign addicts and use more and more drugs
At age eighteen I go to my mother for help, have myself admitted to a closed psychiatric clinic and am treated and put on inhibitors
At age eighteen I drop out of treatment and turn my aggression on my mother
At age eighteen I leave the commune
At age nineteen I am sent to prison and my girl-friend ends our relationship
At age nineteen I am afraid of being alone, get hold of a gun and throw my weight around in the drugs scene
At age nineteen I am sent to prison and accept treatment for the first time
At age twenty I am clean and get over being hurt about having been used as a scapegoat and being an outsider
At age twenty I pray to god for a life free from poison
From a dialogue with the participant and with the aid of the matrix a biography of basic facts is developed, which portrays the person’s life as a sequence of events and decisions, of acts and reactions.
The texts of the biographies are spoken by the participants themselves, and recorded for the audio modules of the Baby Dolls and the project’s audio archive.