Birthday / Urodziny

collage on board, 30x42cm, 2023

This tribute piece was created for the 100th birthday anniversary of Wisława Szymborska. The collage is based on Szymborska’s poem, Birthday (Urodziny) and it attempts to ‘translate’ the imagery-rich poem from the Polish into the language of collage. Each flower in the bouquet is a line from the poem. Rafalski used various images form magazines, nature books, photographs and prints.