Glare is a basic parameter characterising the light environ- ment, an undesirable effect in the process of seeing. Staring at the glare causes persistent afterimages. Light and illumination are often associated with a state of mind that allows one to transcend the human horizon. Upon seeing the light reflecting off a tin vessel, Jakob Böhme, a 17th-century Silesian mystic, experienced vision: he was enveloped by lightness and the secret of being was revealed to him. Light metaphors also appear in the philosophical and religious systems of the East. Enlightenment is a state achieved through meditation, resulting in freeing oneself from suffering and lifting all veils of ignorance. In the Tibetan traditions, radiant light can be understood as an inexhaustible source of good for all sentient beings.
In her exhibition, Kama Sokolnicka focuses on the ambiguity of the eponymous glare, defined as bright light, illumination, flash and radiance. The artist’s works are semantic constellations based on associations that add up to form a non-linear visual essay. Most of the works were created during warm, sunny summer days, and the materials selected for them are the carriers of the content: brass with a dendritic microscopic image conducts heat, felt insulates against sound, vermiculite improves soil structure and makes objects coated with it fireproof. The protective properties of the materials may trigger associations with the practices known from plant cultivation, emphasising alertness and care for the environment. Alertness is a characteristic manifested both in Sokolnicka’s individual works and in the creative process itself, which is particularly evident at the exhibition in the windowless air-raid shelter. By attempting to go beyond the individual, inner experience of the world, the artist affirms an attitude based on understanding for the search for one’s own place in a complex reality, being part of a larger whole.