Recalling the history of the multi-cultural area, once inhabited by the Poleszuks, Poles, Belarusians, Ukrainians and Jews, Pamiętnik w Promieniach Światła is a film that tells the life story of Zofia Chomętowska (1902-1991). One of the most significant and prolific Polish female art photographers of the interwar period, she grew up in Polesia and moved to Warsaw in the 1930s. Polesie, a former territory of the eastern provinces of Poland, its romantic scenery and people became the primary objects of Chomętowska’s camera. She merged with the local environment and became an impartial observer of the Polesie customs and managed to capture the diversity of themes and multiplicity of histories found in the region. Former Polish provinces, now part of western Ukraine, western Belarus, eastern Lithuania, with such major cities as Lviv and Vilnius are referred to as Kresy in Polish and their picturesque and inaccessible landscapes are a source of inspiration to many artists.
The film was directed by Belorussian filmmaker and camera operator, author of documentaries about Polish heritage in Belarus, creator of the International Christian Film Festival Magnificat, Jurij Goruliov. Running alongside the screening is an exhibition - Between Frames Zofia Chomętowska’s Photographs from Polesia 1925–1939. Kept in Buenos Aires where the photographer moved to in 1948, her photographic archive remained inaccessible to the public for almost 70 years, the Archeology of Photography Foundation has been working on to present her works to a broad audience. The exhibition includes over 80 works, both never before published photographs, as well as the most famous pieces of the award-winning artist.
The exposition in Warsaw is accompanied by a comprehensive publication entitled Zofia Chomętowska. Polesia. Photographs from 1925 - 39. Taking up the popular topic of Poland's borderlands, it consists of over 200 photographs and texts of researchers (Wojciech Śleszyński, Ewa Klekot, Karolina Puchała-Rojek) which describe not only the artist's creative output, but also the history of the photographed areas. The publication is released in two lingual versions: Polish-Belurusian and Polish-English and presents the artist's unpublished work.
Screening of the film (in Belorussian with English subtitles):
Saturday August 4th at 2pm, History Meeting House ul. Karowa 20, Warsaw (free entrance)
Exhibition:
Running at the History Meeting House till October 7th (free entrance)
Thumbnail: Bocian w promieniach słońca / A stork in the Rays of the Sun by Zofia Chomętowska, 1929
Sources: History Meeting House press materials, culture.pl
Author: Marta Jazowska