September 13, 2025–February 8, 2026
UK
On September 13, 2025, V&A will unveil Polish Posters Now! Polski Plakat Dziś! The display, presenting modern Polish posters, is part of the programme curated by the V&A for London Design Festival 2025 and is co-organised by Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the UK/Poland Season 2025. It will showcase the bold, imaginative works of today’s leading designers of Poland’s celebrated poster tradition.
After the Second World War, Poland’s ruined cities were lined with fences hiding destruction. Graphic designers such as Henryk Tomaszewski and Waldemar Świerzy transformed these grey expanses into an open-air gallery. Their striking, surreal, and poetic designs became known worldwide as the Polish School of Posters.
Today, Polish poster design remains a vital and innovative art form. Continuing to appear in public spaces, it blends tradition with digital techniques while carrying the same bold visual power. Four leading contemporary artists—Ola Jasionowska, Patrycja Longawa, Kaja Renkas, and Maja Wolna—represent the dynamism and diversity of poster art in Poland today.
The Polish Posters Now! Polski Plakat Dziś! display highlights the continuity of a tradition born in post-war streets and carried forward today with digital innovation, bold imagination, and cultural relevance. Visitors will discover how Polish poster art continues to shape public space and visual culture.
Display will be open to the public until February 2026.
Ola Jasionowska
As an Art Director for Warsaw City Council she created dozens posters—from important public messaging to advertising parks, festivals, and destinations around Poland, her flair for composition is reminiscent of the so-called ‘golden age’ of Art Deco travel posters from a century ago. Still thoroughly contemporary, her illustrated figures are notable for their inclusive range of sizes and identities. Her fame grew between 2016 and 2020 with the visual campaign for the Women’s Strike (Strajk Kobiet).
Patrycja Longawa
Winner of more than 120 awards at global poster biennales, Longawa is also a professor of graphic design in Rzeszów. She largely works digitally and has made many posters to promote Poland’s numerous poster shops and exhibitions. The influence of Hubert Hilscher (1924-1999) and his whimsical circus posters from the early 1970s can be felt in the balancing lion design for the Dydo Poster Gallery. She also cites Jan Lenica (1928-2001) as a major inspiration.
Kaja Renkas
Continuing Surrealist trends which featured strongly in the 20th century Polish School of Posters, Renkas’s work has drawn parallels with Max Ernst in collaging anatomical, zoological and mechanical imagery from antiquarian books with occasionally macabre results. However, she states that she is not directly inspired by any artist or movement, rather it is the industrial landscapes of Silesia where she was born and now teaches at the University of Silesia in the Department of Virtual Space and Video Game Design, which fuels her imagination.
Maja Wolna
Known for her vivid portraits of cultural icons from across the arts. Capturing likenesses with a few bold strokes of black, Wolna describes posters as ‘mental shortcuts’ – they must be easy to read at speed and stand out in the hectic urban landscape. Continuing in the Polish tradition of painter-poster designer, she cites Old Masters Leonardo and Rembrandt alongside Japanese graphic design legend Shigeo Fukuda (1932-2009) as a trio of influence. Wolna is also a professor of graphic arts, teaching the next generation of designers in Poznań.
Curator: Zorian Clayton.
This display is part of the UK/Poland Season 2025 co-organised by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, British Council and Polish Cultural Institute in London, supported by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Poland.
The UK/Poland Season 2025 is a diverse programme of over 100 multi-artform events in 40 cities in both countries. The Season will invigorate the UK-Poland cultural dialogue in addressing global challenges and will open new opportunities for cultural leaders and the next generation of artists.
