I am from nowhere!

"i am from nowhere" • Andy Warhol who famously claimed that he was from nowhere, was actually born in Pittsburgh, USA, in 1928.

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.

However, his parents came over to America from Medzilaborce, a village in Northeast Slovakia.

"Our mother used to often talk to us about Mikova, about her going by wagon to Medzilaborce" • John Warhola

Their roots are in the picturesque Slovakian village of Mikova (near Medzilaborce). 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". 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.

This is why there is a museum in Medzilaborce, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, that is dedicated to Warhol, his family and their art.

It makes a good job of documenting Warhol's life, as well as his most famous pieces.