Wiktor Wołkow | outdoor photography exhibition

About

Wołkow presents the landscape of his native
Podlasie like a farmer lifting a clod of
earth from his own field and feeling its weight in his hand.
To him, it is merely familiar soil,
and he can describe it only in plain, unembellished language, but for which…
To everyone else, it is just a clump of mud.

Andrzej A. Mroczek, “Kierunki” no. 5, 03.02.1985

The exhibition presents black-and-white photographs by Wiktor Wołkow taken between 1977 and 1979, a period of particular importance in the artist’s work, when he documented the landscape, nature, and everyday life of Podlasie with extraordinary sensitivity. The photographs depict a world frozen in time: places, people, and nature that today often exist only in memories and in photographic frames.

The work of Wiktor Wołkow is something more than documentation of reality. It is a story about the deep bond between human beings and nature, about an attentive gaze at the surrounding world, and about the ability to perceive beauty in its simplicity. His photographs create a unique visual archive of Podlasie: a record of the natural and cultural landscape of the region, which has undergone changes over the years.

Today, the artist’s legacy is collected and presented by the Wiktor Wołkow Museum of Photography in Turośń Kościelna – a branch of the Podlaskie Museum opened in March 2024. The museum’s patron, the most outstanding photographic artist of the Podlasie region, left behind several tens of thousands of negatives and transparencies, as well as hundreds of photographs. The museum not only preserves this extraordinary heritage but also introduces visitors to the natural and cultural richness of Podlasie, fostering sensitivity to the beauty of nature and the art of landscape photography.

The presented exhibition is an invitation to encounter the Podlasie of years past, seen through the eyes of Wiktor Wołkow – an artist who became its guardian, chronicler, and ambassador.

The exhibition was prepared in cooperation with the Wiktor Wołkow Museum of Photography in Turośń Kościelna – a branch of the Podlaskie Museum in Białystok.

About the artist

Wiktor Wołkow (born 4 April 1942 in Białystok, died 27 March 2012 in Supraśl) was one of Poland’s most outstanding nature and landscape photographers. For more than 40 years, he photographed north-eastern Poland. The valleys of the Narew and Biebrza rivers, and the Knyszyn Forest were his favourite locations, which he tirelessly explored with a camera in his hand.

He was a member of the Association of Polish Art Photographers and the Białystok Photographic Society. He was the author of around 100 exhibitions and many photographic albums. He received more than 100 national and international awards.

Details

When: July 1-31, 2026, available 24 hours a day
Where: the Hartwig Alley
Admission free

Accessibility

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