Polish London-based photographer artist Zula Rabikowska presents her film, ‘A Geography of Strangers’ (2026) in the current exhibition ‘The Space Between’, exhibiting at Centrala from 5th June to 25th July 2026.
What does it mean to belong somewhere? And what happens when the places that have shaped us begin to change?
These questions sit at the heart of ‘A Geography of Strangers’, a personal film by Zula Rabikowska that explores life after Brexit through the artist’s experience as a queer Polish immigrant living in London. Blending autobiography with political reflection, the work considers how identity is shaped by migration, memory, and the shifting idea of home.
The film unfolds in two interconnected parts. The first traces the changing political landscape in the UK alongside the rise of right-wing politics across Europe. The second turns inward, examining women’s roles within domestic spaces and revealing the repetition, absurdity, and loneliness that can emerge from inherited gender expectations in Central and Eastern Europe.
Rabikowska weaves together self-portraiture, Polish folklore, political speeches, archival news footage, and landscapes from her hometown in southern Poland. In the first chapter, she returns to the communist-era apartment block where she lived until the age of ten before her family emigrated to the UK. In the second, she revisits her maternal village, performing everyday tasks she watched the women in her family carry out throughout her childhood: collecting wood, lighting fires, sweeping, and feeding animals. These quiet, repetitive gestures become a way of reconnecting with family history while questioning the traditions they represent.
Growing up between two countries, two languages, and two cultures, Rabikowska’s work is rooted in the emotional rupture of migration. That sense of displacement continues to resonate today. In 2025, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer sparked widespread debate by warning that Britain risked becoming “an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.” Against this backdrop, ‘A Geography of Strangers’, asks who is permitted to belong, who becomes labelled a stranger, and how political narratives shape our understanding of community.
A Geography of Strangers becomes not only a reflection on Brexit and migration, but a meditation on the possibility of imagining new geographies of solidarity.
‘The Space Between’ exhibits at Centrala until Saturday 25th July, 2026.
About Zula Rabikowska:
Zula Rabikowska is a London-based documentary photographer and filmmaker whose work explores migration, identity, Eastern Europe, and LGBTQI+ communities through community-led storytelling. Drawing on her Polish heritage, she creates intimate portraits and moving image works that amplify underrepresented voices and examine the complexities of belonging.
Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at OPEN20 Moving Image, Four Corners (London), the Enjoy Museum of Art (Beijing), and Medium Gallery (Bratislava), and published by outlets including the BBC, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and Bloomberg. She is the recipient of several awards and grants, including the Getty Images Grant, the AOP Talent Award, the Earth Photo Moving Image Award, and the Centre for British Photography Grant.
Rabikowska is also the founder of Rethinking Eastern Europe, a platform supporting Central and Eastern European creatives, and teaches photography at Kingston University.
Website: http://zulara.co.uk
Instagram: zula.ra