Invitation to the opening of the exhibition by Janusz Lech Wojcieszak
On the 1st of July 2025 at 12.00 in the gallery on the second floor of the Silesian University of Technology Library (23, Kaszubska Street in Gliwice) the opening of the exhibition of the outstanding Polish photographer Janusz Lech Wojcieszak, a graduate of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of our University will take place. The author will present his archival photographs from IGRY GAMES'71, while he studied at the Silesian University of Technology.
The curator of the exhibition is Dr Eng. Marcin Górski, Prof. SUT.
Janusz Lech Wojcieszak lives and works in Mysłowice, Silesia. He photographs natural, cultural, urban, and industrial landscapes. In the 1970s, he collaborated with the press, mainly student and technical publications. Currently, he is pursuing his photographic projects seeking peace, simplicity and contemplating the light offered by nature. He also participates in Epson’s Digigraphie program by personally producing certified prints of his own photographs. He is the author of many individual exhibitions, including:
- the beauty of the Italian Dolomites,
- polish castles,
- a closed zinc smelter,
- beech in nature reserves of the Silesian Voivodeship,
- the landscape in photography,
- the silence on the dunes of the Słowiński National Park,
- abstract of modern industrial architecture,
- panoramic photography,
- disappearing limestone walls in the area of the Kraków-Częstochowa Jura,
- continuity of vision, retrospective of 60 years of photography,
- abstract realism in landscape structures.
He also participated in numerous group exhibitions.
He is the author of unique photographic books. He also tries to collect photos by creating his own collection of photographs. He is the winner of numerous photographic competitions.
He has been honoured with titles: Artiste FIAP and Excellence FIAP, Scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Scholarship of the Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship in the field of culture, Member of the Association of Polish Nature Photographers and Member of the Association of Polish Art Photographers.
Curatorial text by Prof Marcin Górski
IGRY GAMES 71
Today it is quite obvious that the Silesian University of Technology is a leading technical university in Poland, a research university recognized worldwide thanks to high quality scientific research and innovative approach to project-based education of future engineering personnel.
50 years ago, Silesian University of Technology was also a leading technical university, but it was also recognizable thanks to the activity of artists, including photographers – well, one can risk saying that it was the cradle of modern photographic art in Poland. Gliwice was the cradle of modern photography. It was in Gliwice, largely around the circles associated with the Silesian University of Technology, that the Gliwice Photographic Society was established and the Student Photography Agency was established at the Silesian University of Technology. Jerzy Lewczyński and Zofia Rydet were associated with the Silesian University of Technology. Gliwice photographer Stanisław Jakubowski won first prize in the World Press Photo competition in 1969.
It is no wonder that in those years Gliwice, including the Silesian University of Technology, lived with photography. It was at that time that Janusz Wojcieszak, a student of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Silesian University of Technology, joined this trend and documented surrounding reality on a black and white photographic film.
This outstanding photographer, master of nature photography, honoured with the titles of Artiste FIAP (AFIAP) and Excellence FIAP (EFIAP), member of the Photo club of the Republic of Poland, member of the Silesian District of the Association of Polish Photographers, member of the Silesian District of the Association of Polish Nature Photographers, took his first steps at the Silesian University of Technology.
After almost 55 years, Janusz Wojcieszak opened his archives for us, showing archival, reportage photos documenting the Igry Games at the Silesian University of Technology in 1971. Most of these works, recorded on a black and white photographic film, are shown publicly for the first time. These works perfectly complement well-known photographs documenting the life of the Silesian University of Technology made by Zofia Rydet and reporters of the Student Photography Agency. One can say that there is no other university in Poland that was documented by equally excellent photographers.
