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In Videocorner.
An Intermedia Exhibition As an artist living and creating in the immediate vicinity of the Polish-Belarusian border, I observe the concertina wire fence from the windows of my studio every day. This painful, militarized reality became the direct impulse for creating a project that stands as my personal and ethical protest against the humanitarian crisis. The exhibition "The Edges of Worlds. A Visual Testimony" welds three complementary works — a series of photocollages, a poetic animated film "The Cranes", and an experimental film "Light" — transforming the gallery space into a site for a forensic record of the geopolitical rupture between Russia and Europe.The foundation of my artistic strategy is the gesture of gathering flora within the restricted border zone. The plants and herbs collected there are not merely artistic material. They form an organic archive of an affective landscape that physically absorbed and recorded the fear, sweat, and death of people camping in the woods. In the creative process, I deliberately cut and merge this dried matter, combining it with human images and traditional lace associated with domestic hospitality. The final photocollages, subjected to digital color processing, resemble the unsettling view from night-vision cameras. In this way, I deconstruct the cold, bureaucratic language of official reports, forcing the viewer to look at the forest through the prism of individual tragedy.A moving extension of these works is the animated film "The Cranes", based on a traditional folk melody from the Podlasie region. It tells the story of children wandering in a forest and swamp trap. The titular bird symbolizes absolute freedom here — it traverses the sky with impunity, ignoring walls, razor wire, and artificial lines of division. I contrast the perspective of this free, celestial witness with the motif of window frames, which signify the position of a safe observer sequestered behind glass.The dramatic closure of the exhibition is the film "Light", in which I treat light as a primary moral category. Here, I touch upon its profound ambivalence at the border. Light is simultaneously the green sign of rescue in residents' windows and the flashlights of volunteers piercing the darkness, but also the oppressive, exposing searchlights and lasers used by the uniformed services. This sensory montage of brightness and darkness aims to shatter the viewer's comfortable distance.The presented triad of works redefines the function of the visual arts in the face of the global migration crisis. By using plant material as forensic evidence of a catastrophe, the exhibition transforms the audience from passive observers into witnesses. This confronts us with a fundamental question about the boundaries of our own humanity at the edges of the modern world.
Katarzyna Zabłocka, PhD (born 1975, Białystok) is a prominent Polish intermedia artist, educator, and curator of art-research projects. Her creative practice explores the intersections of film, animation, and photography, integrated within the framework of multimedia art education.
Academic Profile and Research
A graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (2000), she was awarded a Doctor of Arts (PhD) in Fine Arts and Art Conservation from the same institution in October 2025. Since 2019, she has served as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Graphic Arts within the Institute of Fine Arts. She also serves as the academic supervisor for the "Ciemnia" Student Research Group.
International Recognition and Awards
Dr. Zabłocka’s work has garnered significant international acclaim. Her recent accolades include:
•2026: Honorable Mention at the Indo Dubai International Film Festival (Dubai, UAE). •2025: 1st Prize in the Experimental Film category for the work Light at The Lie Feed Film
Festival (United Kingdom).
•2025: 2nd Prize at the 9th National "Collage-Assemblage" Competition (BWA Olkusz).
•2024: 2nd Prize at the "Empathy" International Photography Competition (Legnica Art Gallery).
Her career is further distinguished by the Polish Film Institute (PISF) Award (2015) for excellence in film education and a nomination for the Irena Sendler "For Repairing the World" Award. In 2023, she participated in the prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), a flagship exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State.
Curatorial and Institutional Impact
Her artistic contributions are preserved in permanent museum collections, including: •The animated collage film Retrospections: Alfons Karny at the Alfons Karny Sculpture
Museum in Białystok.
•The film animation Vanishing and Existence at the Icon Museum in Supraśl.
Between 2022 and 2024, she coordinated the "Laboratory of Happiness Research," a collaborative interdisciplinary project involving the Goethe-Institut, Bęc Zmiana
Foundation, and the Arsenał Gallery in Białystok. As a leading expert, she collaborates with the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute (FINA) and the Center for Art Education (CEA), where she co-authored the National Core Curriculum for Intermedia Studies in Polish art schools.
Recent Exhibitions (2025–2026)
In 2025, her work was featured in major surveys of contemporary photography, including the 1st Bydgoszcz Photography Biennale, the 20th Foto Art Festival in Bielsko-Biała, and the 15th "Remis" Biennale of Photography. In November 2025, she served as the curator for the exhibition Unreal (Nierzeczywiste) at the Ełk Cultural Center.
Dr. Zabłocka’s oeuvre is defined by an analytical approach to interspecies communities, social empathy, and formal experimentation with light and time-based media.