The Lady

Świtezianka

“The Lady of Lake Świteź”

…

And who the girl? – I know not.

Whence came she? –  query in vain, no-one knows,
Where she absconds? – none can tell.
Like a swamp flower from waters she rose,
Like will-o-the-wisp she’ll farewell

…

from polish poem written by Adam Mickiewicz,

translated by Witold Wojtaszko

Illustrating poems can be quite a challenge and great adventure at the same time.

I was invited to a group exhibition on the occasion of the National Reading Festival. National Reading is an annual collective reading event open to all interested individuals, educational and cultural institutions, and public and social institutions in Poland and abroad. This time, the theme was Adam Mickiewicz’s poetry collection “Ballads and Romances.”

For this assignment, I chose two ballads: “Świtezianka” and “Pani Twardowska.” The former is dreamy and tragic, the latter almost primitive and comic – both speak of love in some way.