With “Kairos / Hauntological Variations,” the work of Julie Mehretu (b. 1970, Addis Ababa), a celebrated American artist with Ethiopian and Polish roots, makes its first ever appearance in Poland. In the show’s title, the ancient Greek notion of kairos—a critical turning point—accompanies Derrida’s hauntology—a state where the present is haunted by ghosts of an unresolved past.

Mehretu’s work reimagines the legacy of American Abstract Expressionism, establishing her as one of the most influential artists of our time—making an impact in contemporary painting for more than two decades now. Her compositions draw on maps, poetry and literature, music and art history, and most prominently, press photography and sociopolitical events; these varied sources act as intellectual and compositional points of departure for her practice in painting, drawing, and experimental printmaking.

The exhibition is comprehensive, bringing pieces from different periods to Warsaw: from the analytical diagrams of the late 1990s to drawings and watercolors as well as works on paper and mylar dating to the 2000s, to the most recent, grand paintings whose dense layering acts as a seismographic record of today’s global tensions—all displayed in a way that provides deeper insight into the artist’s practice.