Gdynia is the last city on the route of the "Open your eyes and see ..." exhibition. The exhibition visited 12 large Polish cities within 12 months. The works made by Łukasz Bąk, Tomasz Lazar and Marek Straszewski were seen by tens of thousands of people during that time.
The photos were taken during the documentation of the 8th season of the TV program "Domino Effect". The women and girls depicted in them come from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Uganda. Through photos, they tell us about their beliefs and everyday ordinary problems. Many of them lack basic knowledge about menstruation, and often do not have the money to buy pads or tampons.
Local NGOs from Central America and Uganda, supported by the Kulczyk Foundation, try to share their knowledge about health and the menstrual cycle with women every day. They also provide them with the necessary hygiene measures.
- Self-realization, equality, and personal happiness are still hindered by superstition, misunderstood tradition, and social and economic limitations. It is unacceptable that women are stigmatized because of their periods. The lack of hygienic measures takes away their freedom to self-determination - says Dominika Kulczyk, President of Kulczyk Foundation.
The exhibition "Open your eyes and see ..." is part of a social campaign initiated by the Okresowa Koalicja to combat poverty and menstrual exclusion and breaking taboos related to menstruation. The period is an invisible theme in every culture and in every latitude, also in Poland.
According to the research conducted in our country at the request of the Kulczyk Foundation, as many as 42% of women declare that they do not talk about menstruation in their home, and for 23% of respondents it is an embarrassing topic. Every fifth Polish woman did not have the funds to buy appropriate sanitary pads.
