She studied at Faculty of Fine Arts of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Since 1996, she has been working at Drawing Department of the university. Jabłońska’s works were presented as part of various individual shows, including in: Zachęta – National Gallery of Art in Warsaw; Kronika Centre for Contemporary Art in Bytom; BWA Zielona Góra; Arsenal Gallery in Białystok; as well as at group exhibitions, including: Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź; Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdańsk; Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw; Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu in Toruń; Wyspa Institute of Art in Gdańsk; Manhattan Gallery in Łódź, as well as Brooklyn Museum, Sculpture Centre and The De Lamar Mansion Centennial Salon of Arts & Ideas in New York; Forum Kunst & Architektur in Essen; n.b.k. in Berlin. She lives and works in Bydgoszcz.
“Nothingness”, 2019
video, 04’00’’
Elżbieta Jabłońska deals with projects activating various environments, installation, performance, and photography. Her works often concern social roles, positions and functions that are assigned in society to individuals and groups. Elżbieta Jabłońska analyses the plague as a state of mind, a dysfunction that slowly engulfs, infects, and transforms consciousness. It can pose a threat to the health of an individual and requires the support of external forces as well as mobilisation inside.
The short text appearing in Jabłońska’s video is an excerpt found years later in the notebook of her then nine-year-old son. This is a kind of haiku about the overwhelming nothingness. “After several years, it is difficult to assess whether the text was found and rewritten, found and paraphrased, or created entirely by Antek.” – comments the artist. A child’s reflection on the abstract concepts that occupy the minds of philosophers is an attempt to find the general principle of the world, the work of consciousness, and a moment of confrontation with inconceivable reality. This “children’s writing” is in fact a very important moment that constitutes an individual looking for meaning and taking on the challenge of confronting own fear.
