About the exhibition
The temporary exhibition “Bleaching” (Wybielanie) represents a self-critical look by the Museum at its own past. Its goal is to reveal colonial patterns and attempt to confront them- an important task for an institution located in a country that sought to realize its own colonial ambitions while simultaneously being the subject of internal European colonization. The exhibition title alludes to the myth of the “colonial innocence” of Poland and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
The origins of the collection at the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw date back to 1888 and are linked to objects brought from Cameroon by Leopold Janikowski. His journey with Stefan Szolc-Rogoziński – the “first Polish expedition to Africa,” financed by Henryk Sienkiewicz, among others – was intended to establish a Polish colony in Central Africa. The travelers purchased land at the time, but shortly thereafter, the territories were taken over by German colonizers. Although this expedition did not go according to plan, it constitutes one of the Museum’s founding myths.
The functioning of Poles within the colonial system involved, among other things, the imitation of imperial models. They attempted to mark their place in Western culture and confirm their belonging to the so-called “white man’s civilization.” To consolidate this position, it was necessary to define Black people as different, or even alien. This was served by scientific and museum practices based on exoticization and the evaluation of non-European civilizations as less developed.
We see colonial traces in the methods of conducting research, organizing expeditions, and acquiring objects for museum collections, as well as in the creation of visual representations of race through the medium of photography. In the “Bleaching” exhibition, curated by Witek Orski and Magdalena Wróblewska, we present photographs from our archives taken in Africa by Polish travelers, researchers, and journalists. These images reproduced the colonial gaze shaped by photographers from Western empires. The exhibition is guided by a timeline spanning from the late 19th century to the present day, recording events significant to the context of the Museum’s African collections.
Curatorial team
Witek Orski is a visual artist, photographer, and exhibition curator. He is the author of photographs, installations, and objects. His artistic practice serves as a space for research and philosophical inquiry. His interests include the social and political functions of photography as well as its status in visual culture. An important tool for him is the exhibition medium itself—he often arranges series of works into complex visual essays. Orski studied philosophy at the University of Warsaw and received his PhD from the University of Arts in Poznań. He teaches at the Łódź Film School.
Magdalena Wróblewska is an art historian and museologist specializing in decolonial issues. She is the director of the National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw and an assistant professor at the Faculty of Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Together with C. Ariese, she published the book Practicing Decoloniality in Museums: A Guide with Global Examples. She publishes articles and books on photography. In 2023, she completed a research internship at the Department of Anthropology, Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Exhibition Accessibility
- Content available in Polish and English
- Audio description of the entire exhibition and selected objects in Polish and English
- Tactile graphics of selected objects
- Video guide to the exhibition and information in Polish Sign Language
- Wide circulation paths and resting areas
- Texts with appropriately sized fonts to ensure comfortable reading for a broad audience
The selection of content adapted into accessible formats was made through a consultation process, taking into account the perspectives of self-advocates.
Director of the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw: Magdalena Wróblewska
Curatorial Team: Witek Orski, Magdalena Wróblewska
Text Authors: Witek Orski, Magdalena Wróblewska
Project Coordination: Maria Wodzińska
Scholarly Consultation: Anita Broda, Agnieszka Grabowska, Alicja Mironiuk-Nikolska, Maciej Zawistowski
Exhibition Design: Bartek Buczek
Visual Identity, Graphic Design, and Text Layout: Kuba Maria Mazurkiewicz
Translation: Mateusz Myszka
Editing and Proofreading: Marta Elas, Zofia Świrek
Accessibility: Justyna Zieniuk, Fundacja Kultury bez Barier
Production Coordination and Logistics: Marta Ancelewska
Technical Team and Organizational Collaboration: Mariusz Horoś, Marcin Kiersnowski, Kamila Końska, Łukasz Malinowski, Tomasz Rychter, Zenon Winnicki
PR and Communication: Łukasz Gackowski, Patrycja Lewandowska, Jakub Nowociński, Przemysław Walcza
Organisation
Media patronage
