Objects

The representation of Henryk Goldszmit – Janusz Korczak on a deck chair is a visual equivalent of the verbal narrative in which Iwona Chmielewska addresses the question of rest (“Doctor allows us to rest and says that growing is hard work. And that the heart has to keep up as our bones grow”). The canvas of the deckchair has a pattern and colours similar to a tallit, i.e. a Jewish prayer shawl. Another Jewish motif on the board is the star of David visible on the right: the grains for the bird are arranged in its shape.

This theme, in turn, is related to another issue raised on the board: Doctor’s teachings to “respect all animals”. At the top right, we can see a floor laid in the so-called Herringbone pattern, made of pieces of ruled paper (the project’s guiding theme), a fragment of the table is also visible (a piece of ribbed “natron” wrapping paper, cut by the artist). On the table, a white soup plate with a bitten slice of brown bread. A string of crumbs continues on the floor. This is how Chmielewska visually shows how Doctor cares for the mice that live in his room, as it is mentioned in the textual narrative of this board in the picture book. As we learn from that layer of the narration, he also cares about sparrows: he does not want to startle them when he enters his room and knocks gently on the door. As we can see, he also feeds them. A brown sparrow with a light-brown belly is turned toward Doctor’s hand.

In addition, sparrows are a species of particular importance to Chmielewska herself, associated with childhood memories. This can be judged from one of her remarks in an interview conducted by Sebastian Frąckiewicz, where the artist confesses that, as a girl, she liked to watch sparrows running on the roof visible from the window of her apartment in Pabianice (see S. Frąckiewicz, Ten łokieć źle się zgina, Czarne: Wołowiec 2017, p. 327).

PK