Karolina Breguła Let Them See Us and Families in Szczecin – exhibition of documentation at TRAFO
Once more, twenty years after the campaign Let Them See Us, Karolina Breguła raises the issue of inequality towards LGBT+ people by hanging contemporary photographs of non-heteronormative couples with children in the streets of Szczecin. In 2003, Let Them See Us aroused great emotions and was accompanied by a lack of social acceptance for photographs of same-sex couples holding hands. The Families recently exhibited in Szczecin have been destroyed within a few days. But is the Polish society really unprepared to accept a queer family?
TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art in Szczecin showcases the photo documentation of both actions and the original photograph from the Family series.
Let Them See Us
photography, 2003
30 photographs featuring same-sex couples holding hands. The series was created by Karolina Breguła in 2003 in collaboration with the Campaign Against Homophobia. Outdoor installations were destroyed, and the project inspired a debate on the presence of LGBT+ people in public space. The discussion continues to this day.
Families
outdoor installations, 2023
Families is a series of large-format photographs distributed in the public space in Szczecin and Warsaw. The project is an update on the demands from the series Let Them See Us that was exhibited twenty years earlier. The artist reminds us the 2023 Poland needs not only the immediate legalization of civil partnerships and marriages of LGBT+ people, but also a broad debate on the adoption of children by same-sex couples.
Unlike the 2003 photos, the new series was created by artificial intelligence. The reason behind the decision was the artist’s concern for the privacy and safety of the rainbow parents and children she personally knows. The posters were destroyed within a few days after they had been displayed.
The Family installations were created in cooperation with Lambda Szczecin, Ezra Wojakowski, Kajetan Wójcik, Czesław Nieznany and Agnieszka Rayzacher.