The exhibition “Domowroty / ПОВЕРНЕННЯ / Homing. Włodzimierz Puchalski” invites you to explore the world of photography and experiments by Włodzimierz Puchalski, a charismatic artist and naturalist whose life was divided by the war into before and after. Themes of home and loss, war and return, are central to the exhibition, which will be the focus of talks held in the gallery near a park where birds can be heard singing.

Włodzimierz Puchalski was born in 1909 in Velyki Mosty near Lviv. Encouraged by his family to observe and photograph nature, he developed his artistic impulse and technical skill at the Institute of Photography at the Lviv Polytechnic. Puchalski built his artistic identity based on the guidance of Henryk Mikolasz and found inspiration in the work of Witold Romer.

Despite his special attention to nature, Puchalski did not avoid urban landscapes in his work. His photographs of Lviv in the 1930s are markedly different from the standard views of the historic city that were mostly of interest to his contemporaries. Puchalski’s view of the city stands out for its fresh perception, inherent in the contemplation of wildlife.

All of Puchalski’s works and archival materials come from the collection of the Royal Museum in Niepołomice. This exhibition, curated by Andrij Bojarov, first opened at the International Center of Culture in Krakow in 2022. The accompanying publication was awarded the main prize at the Wroclaw Book Fair Pero Fredry that year. In 2023, the exhibition was displayed at the Photo Gallery of the City of Rzeszów.

In the summer of 2024, the curator will present it to Lviv residents and guests in cooperation with the Lviv Municipal Art Center and the Center for Urban History. The exhibition will be accompanied by a public program inviting broader conversations around the themes of photography and memory, home and return, and city and nature.

The exhibition in Lviv is available from 27.7 to 1.12.2024.

More information: https://www.lvivcenter.org/en/exhibition/homing-2/