Karolina Jabłońska Behind the tree, 2023

Executed in oil on canvas, the work features a single figure standing on a tree trump in a wooded landscape. Wearing a light brown raincoat and a scarf draped tightly around her head and most of her face, the figure poses with her arms raised. The position appears to echo the silhouette of a tree, suggesting the figure may want to blend in amidst the trees included in the composition.

Jabłońska’s presentation of figures braving dreary weather conditions often set in the Polish countryside, suggest analogies between weather conditions and mental and physical states. Appearing as desolate landscapes, in turn drenched, muddy or icy, her forest scenes emerge as sites for exploring personal feelings, all the while fully aware of the deceptive straightforwardness of such analogy — and wittily embracing the long history of employing landscape motifs as atmospheric markers.