The central figure of the exhibition Helena Bohle-Szacka. Diffusion is an artist, fashion designer, graphic designer, illustrator, philanthropist and curator connected with Białystok, Łódź, Warsaw and Berlin. Helena Bohle-Szacka (1928–2011) was a Pole with German-Jewish roots. Her Polish identity was a multicultural mosaic that significantly influenced her life. During World War II, Helena Bohle was imprisoned in the Ravensbrück and Helmbrechts concentration camps.
The Bohle-Szacka legacy and the need to commemorate it became the starting point for creating an exhibition that tells not only about the past but also about the present and the future into which this legacy permeates.
In the 2020s, demons of the past similar to those that accompanied the Nazi terror are returning. We feel it today in Poland, Hungary and Western Europe, and particularly strongly in Belarus, Afghanistan and Palestine. On the other hand, a pro-freedom revolution is underway. Black Lives Matter, Arab Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ people, feminist movements and the rebellious people of Belarus are changing the world while hitting a wall.
Hatred and aggression seem to be growing stronger, making the voices of the victims of Nazi terror all the more important. Their memories should be a warning today. In Diffusion, this warning was uttered in a new way – it permeated fashion and visual arts created by people from different communities.
Diffusion presents the vast archive of Helena Bohle-Szacka, currently part of the collection of the Sleńdziński Gallery in Białystok, the artist’s birthplace. The archives made it possible to outline her biography. In addition to those pieces, the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź exhibited drawings by Bohle-Szacka from the collection of Ewa Czerwiakowska, as well as works by Lidia Cankova and Władysław Strzemiński from the collection of the Central Museum of Textiles.
Czerwiakowska and Cankova were among Helena’s closest friends in Berlin. Strzemiński was her professor and mentor during her studies in Łódź. The art of this theoretician and avant-gardist permeated Bohle-Szacka’s work and academic practice. The professor’s influence can be seen both in her drawings, including those depicting camp reality, and in the fashion she designed.
The collection of the Sleńdziński Gallery has been interpreted by contemporary artists. Its essence permeated into the work of Zuza Golińska, whose installation is also the space of the exhibition, Roma artist Krzysztof Gil, who addresses the Porajmos, the innovative music video and fashion film artist Luke Jascz, the creator of objects and digital art Sebulec and the fashion designer Kamil Wesołowski. The exhibition was complemented by the art of Belarusian women: activist and performer Jana Shostak and artist and fashion designer Tasha Katsuba. Their works comment on the ongoing revolution in Belarus and form a dialogue with Helena Bohle-Szacka’s views. The door of Helena’s flat in Berlin was always open to those who fought for freedom, needed shelter, were refugees or created art. During the communist era, Bohle-Szacka also supported the Solidarity movement.
Diffusion also highlights Helena Bohle-Szacka’s (formerly Urbanowicz) role and influence in shaping the cultural and economic heritage of post-war Łódź. The poster and folder designer Krystian Berlak, for example, draws attention to the Łódź character of Bohle-Szacka’s graphic style, which he noticed in the books and brochures designed by the artist in Berlin. The exhibition restores the memory of this woman from Łódź who made a contribution to Polish and European culture.
Helena’s story has also become a weapon in the fight against discrimination and chauvinism, as well as against oblivion and indifference towards those who have experienced and are experiencing violence, terror and cruelty.