Solastalgy

2020–2024

acrylic on canvas
120 × 200 cm

Solastalgia. The notion was coined by Australian philosopher
Glenn Albrecht by combining the words nostalgia, solari (to
console), and desolare (to devastate). It refers to a kind of
homesickness that is experienced while being ‘at home’.
It is a particular form of anxiety triggered by the negative
transformation of a much-loved place. It is a modern-day
melancholy felt over the damaged, destroyed or
lost environment (Anthropocene Epoch) as well as over
ecological, economic and social problems, wars, nuclear
contamination, etc. In response, the individual ‘escapes
inward’, seeking a magical, spiritual or sacred path. No
refuge can be found by looking backward or forward in time
(past, future), only perpendicularly to the axis of time: by
crossing the bridge of the soul and embracing the process of
body-soul-spirit.
As such, solastalgia is also a search for a renewed view of the world
and humanity.

photo: VARGA Gábor György

Péter WROBEL

(1955, Pécs) painter

He completed his studies at the Hungarian College of Fine Arts from 1981 to 1985 and then the institution’s artist training between 1985 and 1988. He has had exhibitions in Hungary and abroad since 1986 (Athens, Rome, Seoul, Krakow, Berlin and Paris). He won the Lipót Herman Prize in 1986 and the Barcsay Prize in 1990. He received the DADA-MA certificate and commemorative medal in 2013. He won the scholarship of the Hungarian Academy in Rome in 2006. His works can be found in several important public and private collections in Hungary and abroad (Peter und Iréne Ludwig Stiftung, Aachen; Contemporary Art Collection, Marosvásárhely / Târgu Mureș; Contemporary Art Collection, Szentendre). His work was recognised with the Munkácsy Award in 2023.