The Łódź Queerstory – a walk towards Lesbos and Ganymede | led by: Ewa Kamińska-Bużałek and Marta Zdanowska.

The Łódź Women’s Trail, together with Galeria Czynna, invite you to a walk as part of the Tru tu tu action, which will take you along the trail of LGBT people and themes in Łódź. The gathering will take place at st. Narutowicza 67, next to the former Rector’s Office of the University of Łódź.

Łódź, like every major Polish city, has its rainbow history – queerstory. In telling this story, it is important not to forget the people who often faced social ostracism because of their sexual orientation. During the walk, the guides will talk about the process of forming the law towards homosexual people in Poland – both women and men. They will introduce the figures of women who loved other women in their lives and remained with them in open or, more often, covert relationships. They will also remember important male figures. Among the female protagonists will be director Wanda Jakubowska, author of the film “The Last Stage”, literary scholar, researcher of Polish Romanticism and feminist Prof. Maria Janion, writer Maria Dąbrowska, journalist fighting for the rights of LGBTQ+ people Anna Laszuk and others. There will also be lesser known figures, such as the tragic figure of non-binary Eugenia Steinbart, whose case mixes themes of class and gender history. They will also recall “white marriages” and relationships that fell apart because of different sexual identities (such as the first marriage of Irena Tuwim and Stefan Napierski). They will also talk about the topography of non-heteronormative Łódź (gay pickets, restaurants and clubs) and try to recall important events for the community in the 1980s and 1990s, such as the Hiacynt action or the mysterious series of gay murders near Dworzec Fabryczny.

Led by: Ewa Kamińska-Bużałek i Marta Zdanowska.

The Łódź Queerstory walk is part of Galeria Czynna project – Tru tu tu. Continuing to reflect on overproduction, surplus and overload, Galeria Czynna wants to draw attention to scarcity, deficiency and emptiness. As part of the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival, the gallery would like to support independent initiatives and places that create culture all year round through their often altruistic activities. The concept of the artistic action is to redirect the funds earmarked for the exhibition of the Galeria Czynna to initiatives that are important for the “city”. In this case, these will be the Ignorantka and the Łódź Women’s Trail, with queer as the leitmotif of both activities. The Łódź Women’s Trail will take participants on a walk towards Lesbos and Ganymede, that is, in the footsteps of the Łódź queerstory. The Ignorantka will organize a queer open-call for a poster project, which will then be presented as an exhibition, along with clothing onto which the creators will transfer selected designs together with the audience.