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SUMMARY:The Eyes of War
UID:https://instytutpolski.pl/newyork/2026/04/17/the-eyes-of-war/
LOCATION:
DTSTAMP:20260516
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20260516
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20260530
DESCRIPTION:May 16 – May 30, 2026Brooklyn Bridge Park, Emily Warren Roebling Plaza1
Water St, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Download a detailed map of this locationThis location is part of Brooklyn
Bridge Park, explore other locations and exhibitions nearby
Featuring:Marek M. Berezowski, Wojciech Grzędziński, Agata Grzybowska,
Kuba Kaminski, Tomasz Lazar, Maciek Nabrdalik, Jędrzej Nowicki, Magdalena
Rigamonti, and Maciej Stanik
In the face of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine—an assault not
only on a sovereign nation but on its very culture and language—a
dedicated group of Polish photojournalists has stood on the front lines as
the primary witnesses for the global community. 'The Eyes of War,' a
powerful multi-documentary exhibition, will be featured at the 15th Annual
Photoville Festival this May at Brooklyn Bridge Park. The project showcases
the work of nine award-winning Polish correspondents who have documented
the human cost of the struggle for freedom, ensuring that the truth of this
conflict remains visible to the world.
This is not a war in Ukraine, this is a war by Russia against Ukraine,
against the people, the society, the nation. Against Ukrainian culture and
language. Against a country that has been free, independent, and sovereign
since August 1991.
For 11 years, Vladimir Putin has been trying to destroy this strong country
by annexing Ukraine’s Crimea and Donbas. On February 24, 2022, he invaded
Ukraine and intended to conquer it in three days. Four years of war have
passed, with the Russian president’s soldiers committing war crimes,
murder, torture, and rape. This is documented by Polish photographers, who
are the largest group of foreign correspondents in Ukraine. They are the
eyes of this war. Their photos are shown in the media around the world.
“The Eyes of War” is a long-term and multi-documentary project of the
Polish Press Club presenting photos of the war against Ukraine by
photographers from Poland, including Marek M. Berezowski, Wojciech
Grzędziński, Agata Grzybowska, Kuba Kamiński, Tomasz Lazar, Maciek
Nabrdalik, Jędrzej Nowicki, and Maciej Stanik.
The exhibition is curated by Ewa Meissner, with texts by Magdalena
Rigamonti. The project is produced by Jarosław Włodarczyk and Press Club
Polska. The project partner is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Poland, and the organizers of the exhibitions in the individual
countries are Polish foreign missions.
ABOUT THE ARTIST 
Marek M. Berezowski
Marek M. Berezowski, born 1983, is a documentary photographer and
photojournalist and graduate of the Photography Department at the National
Film School in Łódź and the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural
Anthropology at Warsaw University.
He was a Grand Press Photo prizewinner in 2022, 2023, and 2024; finalist of
the Krzysztof Mille contest; prizewinner of the BZ WBK Press Photo prize in
2014 and 2016; Leica Street Photo Contest in 2020; and Newsreportaż
(Newsweek Polska Press Contest) in 2008. He is also a grant holder from the
Republic of Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, 2016.
Some of his works were shown during the Month of Photography Los Angeles,
The Boutographies – Rencontres Photographiques de Montpellier, Photon
Festival in Valencia. Major projects include Not a Black Swan: Covid
Pandemic (2020-2022), Blast: War in Ukraine (since 2015), and
Citymorphosis: Poland, China, Russia, Germany (2013-2017). In 2017
Citymorphosis was published as a photobook.
He participated in the Eddy Adams Workshop 2024 and collaborates with the
“Reporter” press agency and Magazyn Opinii, Pismo. His photos have been
published by The Guardian, The Atlantic, and CNN.
Wojciech Grzędziński
Wojciech Grzedzinski, photojournalist, states, “Photography is a tool for
understanding and discovering.”
Willingness to document the human condition and convey strong emotions is
always in the center of his photography. For years, he reported armed
conflicts and their consequences in Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, South
Sudan, Georgia, and Ukraine. Between 2011–2015, he was chief of
photographers and the official photographer of the President of the
Republic of Poland.
His work has been awarded in competitions such as World Press Photo, Visa
D’Or, NPPA, POY, Siena Awards, TIFA, Sony World Photography Awards, Grand
Press Photo, and many others. He is an author of the Picture of the Year
(2009) and Picture of the Decade (2014) in the BZWBK Press Photo
competition and Picture of the Year in Grand Press Photo (2022, 2023,
2024).
In his career, he has regularly been a jury member and head of the jury in
international and Polish photography competitions. He is a scholar of the
Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and a member of the
Association of Polish Artist Photographers.
Agata Grzybowska
Agata Grzybowska, born 1984, is a photographer, photojournalist, and video
creator living and working in Warsaw. She graduated in photography from the
Cinematography Department of the National Film School in Łódź. She
teaches photography at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and
Humanities. In 2017, she received a scholarship from the Minister of
Culture and National Heritage as part of the “Young Poland” program.
In 2012-2019, she worked as a photojournalist for Gazeta Wyborcza. She
currently collaborates with many magazines, media platforms, and
non-governmental organizations in Poland and abroad and focuses on her own
photography and film projects. She has published in, among others, Wysokie
Obcasy, Duży Format, Vogue Polska, Pismo, Tygodnik Powszechny, Newsweek
Polska, Digital Camera Poland, Bloomberg, CNN, and Der Spiegel.
Her works have been shown at the Guardhouse of the National Centre for
Culture Gallery, the Royal Castle in Warsaw, in front of the Presidential
Palace in Warsaw, the Contemporary Museum in Wrocław, the European
Cultural Centre in Gdańsk, the Institute of Culture in Bucharest, the
Institute of Photography in Tokyo, the AG Gallerie in Tehran, and the
Delmar Gallery in Sydney, among others.
She published a photobook titled 9 Gates, Returning Not One (2017, Blow Up
Press).
Kuba Kamiński
Kuba Kamiński is a graduate of the Łódź Film School in Poland. He began
his career in 2005 as a photographer for the daily newspaper
Rzeczpospolita, later working for the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) and
collaborating with the French daily Le Monde. Since 2020, he has served as
a videographer and editor for Euronews and France24, with his work also
featured by Al Jazeera English, CNN, and The Guardian.
Since 2022, he has worked exclusively for ABC News, covering the wars in
Ukraine and Israel. He collaborates with top ABC News correspondents,
including David Muir, Martha Raddatz, and Ian Pannell, filming for Good
Morning America and World News Tonight with David Muir.
His accolades include a win at the 45th News & Documentary Emmy®
Awards, the National Press Photographers Association’s Best of
Photojournalism (USA), the China International Press Photography Contest
(CHIPP), and the International Photography Awards (USA). In Poland, he was
awarded the Grand Prix in the National Geographic competition and the
Ryszard Kapuściński Award. He was selected for the prestigious World
Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass 2011, the 2012 Getty Reportage Emerging
Talent, and the inaugural New York Times Portfolio Review.
Since 2005, he has documented events across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the
Americas, including the annexation of Crimea, the wars in Ukraine and
Libya, the Gaza Strip, the Papacy in Rome, and the official visits of
Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump to Poland.
Tomasz Lazar
Tomasz Lazar is an independent photographer, artist, and lecturer at the
Academy of Fine Arts in Szczecin, currently living in Warsaw. Since 2014,
he has been a Fujifilm Global Ambassador.
He is the winner of awards including: World Press Photo, Picture of the
Year International, CHIPP, Sony World Photography Award, BZ WBK Press
Photo, Grand Press Photo, and Lumix Festival for Young Journalism.
His works have been published in many prestigious titles, such as: The New
York Times, Newsweek International, Sunday Times Magazine, The New Yorker,
The Washington Post and New York Magazine. In 2016, he was chosen as one of
12 participants in the Joop Swart Masterclass.
His projects have been shown at photo festivals in Europe, Asia and
America. For his project “Theater of Life,” he won the Grand Prix and
Photo Festival in Łódź.
He is primarily interested in long-term projects focusing on society and
the human mind.
Ewa Meissner
Ewa Meissner (born in 1971, Warsaw, Poland) is a documentary photographer,
curator, and photo editor. In 2000-2005, she studied journalism at the
Faculty of Political Science at Collegium Civitas in Warsaw. She is a
co-founder and documentary photographer of the Napo Images agency, a member
of Press Club Poland, and a Fujifilm Ambassador in Poland.
She worked as a curator and co-organizer of photo exhibitions with the
Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, the Old Gallery of the Association
of Polish Art Photographers in Warsaw, the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the
Center of Japanese Art and Technology “Manngha” in Crakow, and The
Slendzinski Gallery in Bialystok.
Since 2010, she has been lecturing on press photography and photo editing
at the Institute of Journalism of the University of Warsaw.
She is the editor of the photo books: BEBOK by Karolina Jonderko, ECHO by
Maksymilian Rigamonti, The STAKE by Maksymilian Rigamonti, Stigma by Adam
Lach, Two Tailed Dog by Michal Adamski, Message by Maciej Jeziorek, Some
Things are Quieter Than Others by Jacek Fota, and NYC #02 by Wojtek
Wieteska, among others.
She is the author of the Polish Documentary Photography Links (PDPL)
profile on Facebook, where she promotes Polish documentary photography.
Maciek Nabrdalik
Maciek Nabrdalik is an award-winning photojournalist, recognized in both
Polish and international photojournalism competitions including World Press
Photo, Pictures of the Year International, and The Best of Photojournalism.
Nabrdalik is also the recipient of the Grand Press Photo 2007 Picture of
the Year award and the Ryszard Kapuściński Award from the Polish Press
Agency (PAP).
His work has been exhibited and published in magazines around the world. He
is a long-time contributor to The New York Times and has been associated
with VII Photo since 2008.
He is the author of three books: The Irreversible (2013), which focuses on
the survivors of Nazi concentration camps (educational edition reissued in
2014); Homesick (2016), portraying the lives of those affected by the
nuclear disaster in Chernobyl; and OUT (published in January 2018 by The
New Press in the US), which presents a portrait of the LGBTQ community in
Poland.
In the 2016/2017 academic year, he studied at Harvard University as a
Nieman Fellow.
Nabrdalik teaches photojournalism at the L. Schiller National Film,
Television and Theatre School in Łódź, at the Collegium Civitas in
Warsaw, and is a lecturer at the VII Academy.
Jędrzej Nowicki
Jędrzej Nowicki is a documentary photographer who focuses on Eastern
Europe, specifically Belarus and Ukraine. His work delves into the
underlying mechanisms of systemic violence in the region. He is fascinated
by humanity’s pursuit of freedom, whether it be on an individual level or
within whole societies.
He has covered the revolution in Belarus for The Wall Street Journal,
photographed wartime Kyiv for The Washington Post, and portrayed President
Volodymyr Zelensky for The New Yorker. He has published photo essays on the
war in Ukraine in The Atlantic and contributed to numerous European
magazines, including Le Monde, Libération, Die Zeit, and The Guardian.
Nowicki has been awarded the Luis Valtuena Award and World Report Award. He
is also Ian Parry Scholarship alumnus.
Magdalena Rigamonti
Magdalena Rigamonti is a journalist at Onet.pl specializing in interviews.
For 10 years, she worked for the weekly Newsweek, followed by the weekly
Wprost, and from 2016 to 2022 for Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
She is a winner of the Dariusz Fikus Award, Grand Press, and Mediator.
She has authored books including Straty. Żołnierze z Afganistanu –
Casualties: Soldiers from Afghanistan and Jak powstaje człowiek – How a
Man is Made (with Maksymilian Rigamonti). In 2019, together with
Maksymilian Rigamonti, she won the Photobook of the Year award in the
Pictures of the Year (POY) competition for the book Echo, about the
Volhynian Massacre. Her latest book is Niewygodni. Mówią prawdę o wojnie
– The Inconvenient: Telling the Truth About War (2022).
She is a member of the Press Club Polska board.
Maciej Stanik
Maciej Stanik is an award winning photojournalist. Accolades include the
Dariusz Fikus Award, 2024; Grand Press, 2024; Finalist for Poland’s
Photojournalist of the Year, 2020; first place in the photo reportage
category, Grand Press Photo, 2020; second place in the everyday life
category, Grand Press Photo, 2020; and honorable mention at the Viva! Photo
Awards, 2020.
He started working as a photojournalist in 2008 in Lodz, Poland, in one of
the local newspapers of the Polska Press publishing house. He switched to
freelance in early 2016. Currently, he cooperates with the editors of
Natemat.pl and Wirtualna Polska. Since 2019, he has been working in crisis
zones such as Venezuela, Syria, Afghanistan, Zambia, and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Jarosław Włodarczyk
Jarosław Włodarczyk is a journalist, commentator, and lecturer. He serves
as the Secretary General of the International Association of Press Clubs
(IAPC), an umbrella organization representing journalists and media
professionals across more than 50 countries. He is also a board member of
Press Club Polska and the Council of Polish Media.
His professional career began prior to 1989 as an editor of the underground
press. Following Poland’s transition to democracy, he moved into
broadcasting, serving as a journalist, reporter, and news anchor for public
television news services. He currently hosts “Press Talks” on the
international news channel TVP World.
As an academic and educator, he lectures at the Faculty of Journalism at
SWPS University in Warsaw. He is the author of the national core curriculum
for media literacy in Polish schools and teaches the subject at the Saska
Szkoła Realna high school. He holds a degree from the Faculty of
Journalism at the University of Warsaw and completed “The Tools of
Marketing” program at the University of Toronto.
Press Club Polska (PCP) is a leading independent professional organization
for journalists based in Warsaw. Established in 2008 as a non-profit
foundation, it serves as a vital pillar for media freedom and excellence in
Central and Eastern Europe. The organization is a member of the
International Association of Press Clubs (IAPC) and the European Federation
of Press Clubs. Warsaw has served as the permanent seat of the IAPC General
Secretariat since 2013.
Press Club Polska is dedicated to defending freedom of speech, upholding
journalistic ethics, and providing a platform for professional integration.
The Club is also a key proponent of media literacy, organizing workshops,
lectures, and training programs designed to navigate the complexities of
the modern information landscape. These initiatives aim to strengthen the
resilience of both journalists and the public against disinformation while
promoting the value of verified, high-quality reporting.
The organization is also renowned for its prestigious awards programs. It
presents the Dariusz Fikus Award, one of Poland’s most respected honors
for “journalism of the highest caliber,” and co-presents the
International Freedom of Speech Award alongside the IAPC.
In an era of heightened geopolitical challenges, Press Club Polska remains
a crucial watchdog, fostering international solidarity and ensuring the
public’s right to reliable information.
This exhibition is presented by Press Club Polska and Photoville Festival,
with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of
Poland and the Polish Cultural Institute New York.
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