An environment that is deeply familiar to us, in which we sense a profound sense of belonging; merely imagining its reality makes us feel as though we are becoming part of a safe haven. For Veronika Zapletalová, that environment is the specific landscape of Sweden. For several years now, she has been conveying her inner vision of its existence through pen-and-ink drawings and watercolors. She knows its reality. She repeatedly sets out on journeys so she can seek it out, see it, experience it, and be close to it. 

She travels through the countryside, perceiving it sensitively, mapping the space, longing to find what is so familiar. “Valley of Light, Place, Somewhere, That Memory, That Feeling, That Radiance, That Touch, That Infinity, All of That, The Source of the Search, Light, The Beginning, Home, The Interstice, Timelessness, Between Inhaling and Exhaling, Trembling, A Prayer for the Landscape, Safety, We Are the Landscape...,” charts the verbal terrain in an effort to capture the essence of the current exhibition’s content through its title. When traveling north through Sweden, one of the towns that magically draws her in is Vilhelmina. Named in the early 19th century after the then-Queen of Sweden, it evokes the symbol of the feminine element in the landscape. The characteristic dark red color of its houses is visibly reflected in the artist’s works.

This summer, Veronika Zapletalová undertook her fourth exploratory trip to these places. During the trip, she created a six-meter-long panoramic drawing. With a roll of canvas in hand, she drove and walked through the landscape. She carried it into the mountains, asking locals where such a place might be. She received answers that guided her as she continued her exploratory search. Guided by both intuition and reason, she observed the shapes of the hills and the lines of the streams and rivers, becoming attuned to their character. Her artistic records have a time-lapse quality. She models the scenes with short, thread-like strokes, placed side by side with the utmost care. “It is simply a constant effort to draw closer to something of which one is a part—something one strives to understand, to connect with, to return from a state of separation to the whole,” she explains her intention. The overall image always appears monumental and, at the same time, very delicate. It carries a sculptural quality. It is never a finished painting, but rather a record of the process. The specific character of light in this environment is fundamental to the artist; it seems to her that the landscape glows.

Similarly, all of Veronika Zapletalová’s creative activities can be perceived as a vast landscape. She creates it through her installations in public spaces, murals, her own exhibitions as well as those she curates for other artists, publications, illustrations, lectures, and her sensitivity to the environment in general. In this way, she creates a mental and emotional foundation for those who are sensitive to the environment of their own existence. Her prayer for the landscape continues and remains effective.

Veronika Zapletalová (*1971) studied from 1990 to 1992 at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague (Art History) and from 1991 to 1997 at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (Adéla Matasová’s Studio of Conceptual and Intermedia Art, Kurt Gebauer’s Studio of General Sculpture). She completed internships: in 1993 at the Academie Beeldende Kunsten in Maastricht (Netherlands), from 1993 to 1994 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (František Hodonský’s Landscape Painting Studio), and from 1994 to 1995 at L’École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris. From 1997 to 2001, she continued her studies at the Institute of Creative Photography at Silesian University in Opava. A selection of solo exhibitions from recent years: Mushrooms and The Little Pond, m3 Festival / Art in Space – City Therapy, GHMP, Studio Bubec, 2021; Memory of the Landscape, Veleslavín Castle, Vítězné náměstí, Prague 6, 2022–2026; Forestation, Vzlet, Prague, 2024; Old Mountains… Are Soft as the Palm of Your Hand, Havelka Gallery, Prague, 2026. She is the creator of the Metro Bořislavka mural, commissioned through the open competition MuralArt UM / Art for the City, Prague, 2021 (1st place), as well as the author of the publication Chatařství: Architecture of Human Dreams and Possibilities (Brno, ERA 2007). She has carried out several interdisciplinary projects focusing on the development of the urban landscape, such as Veleslavín Castle (2018–2023) and the Veleslavín Laboratory (2023). She is a member of the Prague City Council Commission for Art in Public Spaces.

Curator: Iva Mladičová