The women and girls shown in the photos come from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Uganda. The portraits of the exhibition's protagonists tell us a story 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 in Central America and Uganda, supported by the Kulczyk Foundation, try to educate women about health and the menstrual cycle 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 the Kulczyk Foundation.
The authors of the photos are Łukasz Bąk, Tomasz Lazar and Marek Straszewski, who documented the implementation of the 8th season of the television program "Domino Effect". Grudziądz is another city, after Warsaw, Poznań, Gdańsk and Kraków, their works went to.
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 the taboo related to the 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 measures.
