Unreal, yet Recognizable World

The new temporary exhibition at the National Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw is a journey through the paintings of Magdalena Shummer – an outstanding creator from the circle of non-professional art. “I am in enormous awe of nature, animals, flowers, and especially trees. Emotionally, I identify with their fate. I started painting when I was 30 years old. I am a self-taught artist. I paint oil paintings and create cutouts. I use sheet metal that I cut into various shapes. Then, I prime them and paint them with oil paints.” This monographic exhibition consists of over 130 works illustrating, among others, human relations with nature. Cats, dogs, cows, parrots, crocodiles, jaguars, elephants, bats… The fantastic, multicolored world of the artist’s imagination is also filled with mythical stories, including angels and demons, scenes from paradise and Noah’s Ark. The exhibition is also available in English and Ukrainian, and the narrative of the exhibition, selected objects and a film interview with the artist – in Polish Sign Language and with audio-description. “Unreal, yet Recognizable World” is open until December 31.