Polish Londoners, a project commissioned by CPP Hounslow, was developed with Hounslow’s Polish communities to connect with and celebrate ‘UK-Poland Season 2025’ being led by the British Council & Adam Mickiewicz Institute. The project set out to explore how storytelling, folklore, and traditional crafts can connect Polish communities in the UK with their heritage, with each other, and with the wider cultural landscape of London.
Through creative workshops, collaborative art, and a postcard series inviting personal reflections, the project encourages participation, expression, and pride in Polish identity – especially among Hounslow’s vibrant Polish community.
By celebrating both tradition and transformation, Polish Londoners creates space for Polish culture to thrive, evolve, and be shared across generations and borders.
Polish Londoners: Commission by Zula Rabikowska
Polish Londoners by Zula Rabikowska is a collaborative visual documentary project that explores how storytelling, folklore, and traditional crafts serve as powerful tools for Polish communities in the UK to reconnect with their heritage, express identity, and forge new narratives of belonging.
Rooted in Zula’s wider practice – focusing on migration, identity, and Eastern European experiences – this project uses a community led approach, inviting participants to engage in creative workshops, oral history sessions, and participatory photography. The project creates a space where Polish culture is not only preserved, but reimagined – celebrated as a living, evolving force within the UK’s multicultural fabric.
The project has culminated in four exhibitions located in CPP Hounslow’s community galleries located in Brentford Library, downstairs at Hounslow House, in the former Debenhams shop window in the Treaty Centre and Salisbury Cafe in Cranford.
In Brentford Library, Whispers of Home sees Zula Rabikowska partnering with the Polish community in Hounslow to capture the shared experience of celebrating Polish identity in the UK. Featuring portraits alongside personal stories, this piece highlights the voices and faces of those who make up the Polish diaspora. Here, the community is not just the subject, but a co-creator – shaping a living archive of memory, identity, and belonging.
See images from the exhibition below:
At CPP Hounslow’s Gallery Space in the Treaty Centre (1st Floor, opposite Hounslow Arts Centre), Seasons of Belonging is both a tribute to Polish folklore and a reimagining of what it means to belong. Inspired by the Nobel Prize-winning novel Chłopi (The Peasants) by Władysław Reymont, Zula presents a series of four collages representing the seasons of the year. Using techniques inspired by Wycinanki – the traditional Slavic art of paper cutting – the collages explore themes of Polish folklore, identity, and transformation.
At Salisbury Cafe, a new exhibition of photographs taken by Zula at this year’s Polish Heritage Day celebration in Lampton Park showcase how the pride, culture and community are central to the Polish experience in London.
See images from the exhibition below:
Spotlight on Zula Rabikowska
Zula Rabikowska is a London-based photographer and videographer whose practice centres on themes of migration, identity, and LGBTQI+ communities. Specialising in portraiture, her work often emerges through close collaboration – with artists, musicians, writers, and everyday people – capturing authentic, layered narratives. As an educator at Kingston University and founder of Rethinking Eastern Europe, Zula is dedicated to expanding conversations around Eastern European identity, challenging stereotypes, and supporting emerging visual storytellers.
Click here to visit Zula Rabikowska’s website.
Polish Londoners Postcards
Combining playful illustration with open-ended prompts, illustrator Alicja Orzechowska, has designed a series of postcards for the Polish Londoners project. The postcards invite participants to explore their identity and experiences within the Polish community in London.
As a Polish immigrant, in this project Alicja draws on the nostalgia of Poland and the contemporary reality of London. The postcards feature images from their family archives, such as Alicja’s grandparents on holiday, their grandmother at her wedding, and their family after harvesting crops. The final postcard incorporates a photograph by Dean Sekhon, an emerging artist from Hounslow.
The postcards are being distributed across Hounslow and beyond as a creative invitation to share stories, memories, and reflections – building a collective portrait of the Polish diaspora in London, one message at a time. Postcard responses will also be displayed as part of our Polish Londonders exhibition at CPP Hounslow’s Community Gallery in Hounslow House (in lobby area).
Celebrating Polish Culture in Bell Square
In addition to the Polish Londoners project, Bell Square are hosting a Polish music festival (Aug 2025) and theatre festival (Sept 2025). Combined, these projects have aimed to highlight and celebrate the Polish communities in Hounslow and their contribution to arts, culture and our cross-cultural identities.
Find 0ut more about Watermans and CPP Hounslow’s programme for UK Poland Season 2025 here
CPP Hounslow 