They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but how would we see (and understand) if we had no language, i.e. words? Feedback between image and language is a specialty of the poet and painter Zuzanna Bartoszek.

Across a wide canvas, the artist spreads before us a low, gloomy horizon: a rocky view in shades of grey, bare peaks illuminated by the rays of an almost phosphorescent sun. The format of the work brings to mind a post-apocalyptic video game or, unfortunately, a view from a tank. The crosshairs target the intense orange-glowing sun…. The blunt words “no more” are emblazoned across the entire width of the image. No more war? Or maybe no more sun?

The end of the sun means the end of our world. Bartoszek painted this picture after Russia’s launch of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. With it, she began a series of works (including “Bayraktar” and “Trenches”) in which she applies visual hyperbole to the canvas, raising fear, war, and threat to a total level in order to achieve momentary relief. Then, as she says, “Fear temporarily ceases to be dangerous.” 

Józefina Bartyzel