The Archeologia Fotografii (Archeology of Photography) Foundation was founded in 2008 as an answer to a growing need for compiling and popularizing the oeuvre of great Polish photographers, whose archives are kept by their families. So far, the Foundation has been granted protection over seven archives of the following photographers: Zbigniew Dłubak, Zofia Chomętowska, Wojciech Zamecznik, Janusz Bąkowski, Jerzy Lewczyński, Maria Chrząszczowa and Tadeusz Sumiński. When the Foundation begins its works on an archive, its staff signs a few-year contract with the artists’ family, on the basis of which they can access the entirety of unsorted works and documents. Often these archives differ significantly between each other and they require individual methods of systematizing, storing and interpretation.
Apart from cataloguing and digitalizing photographers’ archives, the Foundation is continuously introducing them into the circulation of culture through exhibitions, inviting contemporary artists to participate in various projects, publishing and organizing workshops whose aim is to expand knowledge and interest in archival photography.
video subtitles translated by M. Kępa, description translated by O. Drenda