Bear witness: the white bears of Zakopane – in pictures

Our Streets are Full of White Bears by Barbara Caillot and Aleksandra Karkowska is an archival project presented by the Belfast photo festival that documents the history of the legendary White Bear of Zakopane, in Poland. It examines how thousands of pictures of people with white bears became part of Polish popular culture

  • Our Streets Are Full of White Bears is on display in the grounds of Belfast City Hall until 30 June
Main image: Andrzej Bachleda Żarski, Zakopane, 1950. Photograph: Barbara Caillot and Aleksandra Karkowska

  • Adam Slowinski, Polish Tatra mountains, 1940s

    Barbara Caillot and Aleksandra Karkowska wanted to explore why people in Poland were so keen to take photos with people in white bear costumes. They made an appeal on social media, radio, TV and in the press for the public to submit their photos. They also searched in libraries and archives
    A smartly dressed child stands with a dog, with a person in a white bear costume standing behind them

  • From Stankowicz album, Zakopane, 1920s

    The Stankowicz family owned a workshop in Zakopane’s main street where they made bear costumes from sheepskin
    A man carrying white bear costumes made from sheepskin

  • Czeslawa Slowinska, Polish Tatra mountains, 1950s

    The authors received more than 1,500 pictures from all over Poland, and the oldest photos are 100 years old. They were obtained from the descendants of furriers, who were the first to make costumes from sheepskin in Zakopane
    A woman standing next to a bear costume

  • Zofia Tatar, Zakopane, 1967

    The contrast between the size of the child and the bear is impressive. The parents wanted to have a souvenir of their visit to Zakopane, the capital of the Polish Carpathians, where the man dressed as the polar bear was most often to be found
    A person in a bear costume poses holding a young child

  • Władysława Styrczula Maśniak, Zakopane, 1951

    In those days, bears sometimes posed for photos in a romantic way
    A person in bear costume embracing a woman on a street

  • Adam Slowinski, Polish Tatra mountains, 1940s

    It became possible to recognise the era of the photographs by the attire and poses of the people, and even by the bear costumes as the length of the fur and the shape of the head or ears evolved over decades
    A bear crouches next to a person sitting holding a book

  • Unknown

    A child perches on a knee of a kneeling bear in snow

  • Zakopane

    A child sits piggyback on a kneeling bear

  • Anna Graca, Stanisław Świder and Zofia Tatar, Zakopane, 1989

    It’s the end of communism and the first colour photo films are appearing
    Three people posing with a bear

  • From Stankowicz album, 1920s

    People pose with a bear made in their workshop
    Three people on skis pose with a bear

  • Slowinski family, Polish Tatra mountains, 1940s

    The Slowinski family were friends with the polar bear because they owned a restaurant at the entrance to the Kościeliska valley where the bear used to wait for customers
    A woman holding a young child pose with a bear

  • Andrzej Bachleda Żarski, Zakopane, 1950

    Young children were often afraid of the polar bear, but here the young boy looks indifferent
    An indifferent-looking young boy poses in front of a person in a polar bear costume
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