28 June – 17 September 2017

Ben Uri Gallery and Museum

108a Boundary Road, London, NW8 0RH Mon–Fri 10 am–5.30 pm, Sat–Sun 11am–5 pm

Marek Zulawski, Poland First to Fight, 1939, poster, Private Collection, courtesy the artist’s estate

This is the second exhibition in Ben Uri’s series on refugee and migrant artists, highlighting the Polish contribution in Britain over the last century. This focus is particularly apt as the community approaches its millionth citizen, the largest migrant group in Britain, and as Poland celebrates its centenary in 2018 as an independent nation state.

The exhibition will tell aspects of the story of the Polish community in Britain, and Poland’s recent turbulent history, through the lens of art. It will trace the complex stories of Polish-born artists who fled successive regimes, were variously persecuted, imprisoned and interned, crossed continents – or, today, have made positive choices to come to Britain to study or to develop professionally.

The exhibition brings together a century of artworks and archival material by both celebrated and lesser-known Polish-born artists selected from the Ben Uri Collection and from Polish institutions, galleries and private collections.