Gunnersbury Photographic Portrait Exhibition to Explore Freedom
Anna Jochymek based work on conversation with Polish migrant women
Anna Jochymek
January 16, 2026
Free.Her, an exhibition of photographic portraits exploring freedom by Anna Jochymek is to take place at Gunnersbury Park Museum
Presented by Watermans, the displays by the Polish-born, London-based artist and ethnographer will be free to view from 3 – 13 February. It will mark the reopening of the museum follow a month of closure for refurbishment.
In 2025, twenty large-format photographic portraits were created as part of a conversation with Polish migrant women based in or connected to the London borough of Hounslow. During their photographic sessions with artist, Anna Jochymek, the women shared details of their journey, challenges, and what has empowered them as women and migrants in the UK. The resulting photographs and testimonies create a powerful portrait of the local community, exploring what freedom means to women today, through their own words, histories, and identities.
Free.Her was originally presented at two outdoor exhibitions last year, in Brentford and Hounslow, as part of the Future Arts Centres project, Our Freedom: Then and Now, itself part of a £2 million national creative programme marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and supported by the UK Government through Arts Council England.
Anna Jochymek works at the intersection of visual arts, social anthropology, and public engagement. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the School of Social Sciences and Professions, Centre for Global Diversities and Inequalities at Metropolitan University London, working as an ethnographer in a pioneering interdisciplinary study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council
Jan Lennox, Director, Watermans said, “The portraits and testimonies tell a compelling immigration story.”
Corinne Wan, Head of Museum (Services), Gunnersbury Park Museum added, “This powerful exhibition by artist Anna Jochymek reveals sophisticated storytelling exploring a wide range of contemporary experiences by Polish women based in or connected to Hounslow. We are delighted to host this insightful exhibition at Gunnersbury Museum and to be welcoming selected materials from the display into our permanent archive collection.”
Following the exhibition, selected portraits will be included in the Gunnersbury Park Museum Archive.
The exhibition can be viewed from Tuesday 3 - Sunday 13 February, 10am – 4.30pm.
Gunnersbury Park Museum is at Popes Lane, W5 4NH.
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