Long Before is an expression of longing for nature and its connection with our ancestors. Nature in Diana Lelonek’s works is extraordinary – tempting and disturbing at the same time. It evokes a stream of contrasting emotions: long- ing, fascination and anxiety.

When searching for the origins of these emotions, the artist escapes from the present, where nature seems to have been tamed for ages, and goes back to the distant past, when humans and nature were still connected by a primeval bond. In order to recreate this bond, she tries to make humans equal to other species. She portrays naked men as a herd spied on by a hidden camera like animals in wildlife documentaries. She deprives them of the core of their identity: of their faces, which she covers with moss and soil. She tries to capture them with her camera as they used to be – unified elements of nature deprived of individuality. However, other works from the series reveal the process of evolution and civilisation of man to be irreversible. The ‘wild’ naked men rush off, visibly embarrassed, to put on their swimming suits, telegraph poles spoil the wild landscapes, and modern haircuts show from beneath the moss that covers women’s faces.

The artist lets these elements reveal the futility of her trials to connect with nature and she focuses on an empty space – the void that remains after the bond between humans and nature has been broken. The return to nature turns out to be impossible.

Curator: Katarzyna Różniak