Teresa Gierzyńska

Teresa Gierzyńska (born 1947 in Rypin ) is a Polish artist, photographer, and recipient of the 2019 Maria Anto & Elsa von Freytag-Laringhoven Art Prize.

Life Gierzyńska graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (1971), where she studied sculpture along with solids and planes design in Oskar Hansen’s studio.

Since 1962, Gierzyńska has worked with broadly understood photography and techniques of photography multiplying and processing. In 1964, she went to Canada for a year to pursue artistic education. In her work, Gierzyńska draws on family archives, found photographs, postcards, and press photographs. She creates multiple series, including: About Her, Travels, and About Light. Between 1967 and 2003, Gierzyńska documented the life and work of her husband, Edward Dwurnik, with whom she had a daughter, Pola Dwurnik (b. 1979). Their marriage ended in divorce after thirty-seven years. Gierzyńska presented her drawings, graphics, and photographs in numerous solo and group exhibitions.

Public collections that hold Gierzyńska’s works include the Museum in Gliwice, Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Teatr Studio in Warsaw, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Kontakt Collection in Vienna, as well as various private collections in Poland and abroad.

Gierzyńska lives and works in Warsaw.

Notable exhibitions 1969 – Drawing – Interior, Galeria Klubu Medyk, Warsaw

1970:

Young Polish Sculpture in Plein-Air, Legnica Graphics (Memories), DAP, Warsaw (solo exhibition)

1978:

I International Triennale of Drawing, Wrocław The National Biennale of Young Art, BWA, Sopot

1979:

Erotyka, DAP Warsaw Erotyzm BWA Sopot Polsk Kunst, Kobenhavns Radhus, Copenhagen

1981 – ONA ONO JA (She It I), Galeria Ściana Wschodnia, Warsaw (solo exhibiton)

1986 – Ninth British International Print Biennale, Bradford, Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2 Bienal Internacional de Electrografia y Copy Art, Valencia

1989 – Looks/Impressions, from the collection of Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź

1991 – Cienie i zakryte ciało… (Shadows and the Covered Body...), Mała Galeria ZPAF-CSW, Warsaw (solo exhibition)

2007:

Icons of Victory, MCSW “Elektrownia,” Radom Time Saved 1977-2006, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw The Essence of Things, Czarna Gallery, Warsaw (solo exhibition)

2009

About Her: Photographs from 1967–2008, Arton Foundation, Warsaw (solo exhibition) Fotografia Kolekcjonerska 5 edycja (Collector Photography 5th edition), Artinfo.pl and Galeria ART+on, Warsaw Viennafair 2009, Vienna (with Czarna Gallery) SIEGesIKONen transFORM, Humboldt Umspannwerk, Berlin Sztuka czasu kryzysu (The Art of Crisis), Lewicka 10, Warsaw Paris Photo, Spotlight on Central Europe, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris (with Czarna Gallery)

2012 – Chora sztuka (Ill Art), Warsaw, the IV floor of the former children’s hospital (al. Jerozolimskie 57, Warsaw)

2014:

By the River That Isn’t, BWA Sokół, Nowy Sącz (solo exhibition) Touch, Pola Magnetyczne 7, Warsaw (solo exhibition)

2014/2015 – Architecture of the Shadow: Chatels and Bazaars, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw

2016 – Miłosny Performans (Love Performance), Zofia Krawiec, Galeria Labirynt, Lublin

2017 – Moods, Galeria Farbiarnia, Bydgoszcz, Vintage Photo Festival (solo exhibition)

2018 – Left-Handed, Pola Magnetyczne, Warsaw (solo exhibition)

2019 – Friend of a Friend, Warsaw, Pola Magnetyczne with Galerie Parisa Kind (Frankfurt am Main)

2021:

Women Live for Love, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (solo exhibition) Tender Attention: Urszula Czartoryska and Photography, MS2, Łódź Instant Archive: Instant and Instax in Poland, Gdańska Galeria Fotografii, National Museum in Gdańsk Self-Portrait with Blues: Hasior and New Art, Władysław Hasior Gallery, Tatra Museum, Zakopane My Mother, My Daughter, BWA Krosno With Pleasure, Fundacja SEXEDPl, Galeria Szara, Katowice, Krupa Gallery, Wrocław

2021/2022:

Pause, Gunia Nowik Gallery (solo exhibition) T. G. Women Live for Love, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (solo exhibition) Cartographies of Sublime Feelings, BWA Zielona Góra

2023:

My Body is Your Body, Braunsfelder, Cologne BASEL SOCIAL CLUB, Basel (solo exhibition) Multiple Realities: Experimental Art in the Eastern Bloc, 1960s–1980s, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2023, Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona, 2024, Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia, Canada, 2025)

2024:

Here and Now, Gunia Nowik Gallery, Warsaw (solo exhibition) We Want the Whole Life: Feminisms in Polish Art, State Gallery of Art, Sopot Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami Beach, Florida, USA (solo exhibition)

2025:

Edward Dwurnik: Portrait from Nature, Edward Dwurnik Foundation, Warsaw Sophie Thun: Secret Performance, Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź The Children of Sławoszyno, Gunia Nowik Gallery, Warsaw (solo exhibition) Polish photography in Belfast Exposed Photography Gallery as part of the UK/Poland Season 2025 Ways of Seeing, Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź Suddenly there was nothing, Harkawik, New York

Awards In 2019, Gierzyńska won the 2019 Maria Anto & Elsa von Freytag-Laringhoven Art Prize.