Absent Legacies: Lotte Jacobi and Janina Gardzielewska

On October 10th at 6:00 PM, the exhibition "Absent Heritage: Lotte Jacobi and Janina Gardzielewska Rediscovered", curated by Dr Katarzyna Gębarowska, will open at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Toruń.

The exhibition, organised as part of the Vintage Photo Festival, showcases the artistic heritage of two photographers associated with Toruń: Lotte Jacobi and Janina Gardzielewska. Although both came from families with a tradition of studio photography, they decided to pursue a dynamically developing artistic photography, aiming to transform photography into abstract art. Jacobi created photograms, Gardzielewska created large-format collages. Both pushed the boundaries of traditional photography and were avid travellers. Despite achieving international fame, they experienced exclusion. Jacobi was excluded because of her ties to the city's Prussian past, while Gardzielewska was forgotten.

The exhibition will juxtapose Lotte Jacobi's photographs of Toruń with 21 photographs by Janina Gardzielewska from the University Library in Toruń collection. Gardzielewska's works will include portraits of visual artists associated with the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Nicolaus Copernicus University, including Mirosław Piotrowski, Maria Pokorska, and Tymon Niesiołowski. Some works were created using photomontage techniques as part of the series "My Acquaintances of Toruń Visual Artists," presented in 1983 at the Mała Galeria Fotografiki in Toruń. The exhibition will be complemented by theatrical photographs documenting scenes from performances at the Wilam Horzyca Theatre from the 1960s and 1970s.

The exhibition will be on display until November 16th.