Photos offer glimpse of Poles in Fifties London

A lost archive of photographs of the Polish community in post-war London goes on show today.

The exhibition presents 300 pictures documenting the lives of Poles in the Fifties, out of 3,000 discovered in a bin in Brixton.

They were taken by Jan Markiewicz, a Polish exile and lawyer who turned to photography as his qualifications were not recognised in Britain.

The collection was found by an artist, Jean-Marc de Broglio, 10 years ago and stored in his cellar until last year. When he showed them to Nicole Tattersall, a documentary-maker of Polish descent, she researched the works and is now putting them on show.

Ms Tattersall said: "I would like this exhibition to be a step towards showing the richness of London's multicultural life. We're all aware of Poles coming to London these days but people might not know about the history of this community."

The show is at POSK - the Polish centre at 238-246 King Street, Hammersmith - until 29 August.