Seven Years

In Seven Years, Michelle Krasowski explores themes of fate, inequality, and superstition through a symbolic urban scene. In the painting, a white house cat looks out from behind a window while a black stray cat runs past a ladder on the street below. Set against a city backdrop filled with tension and instability, this brief moment is full of layered meaning.

The two cats represent contrasting lives. The white cat, safe and comfortable indoors, symbolizes stability and privilege. The black cat, out on the streets, represents struggle and survival. Their contrast mirrors the idea of Yin and Yang, opposite forces that define each other.

The white cat’s gaze through the glass window feels distant and detached. It watches the world without being part of it. The window becomes a barrier between two realities: comfort versus chaos, safety versus risk. Outside, the black cat moves quickly through the uncertain city, vulnerable and reactive.

A ladder leans against the wall beneath the window, an old symbol of bad luck. Its presence adds tension to the scene. When combined with the black cat, another superstition-heavy figure, the sense of unease and looming misfortune deepens.

The black cat’s movement is left unexplained, where it’s going or why it’s running is unknown. That ambiguity reflects how unpredictable hardship can be, often driven by forces beyond our control.

The title Seven Years nods to superstitions, like the belief that breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck. It evokes the idea of long-lasting misfortune. But the message of the painting goes beyond folklore. It speaks to real issues of inequality and fragility, and how much one’s position, whether inside looking out or outside running by, can shape the entire direction of a life.

With Seven Years, Krasowski challenges the viewer to consider what defines security, how superstition blends with circumstance, and who gets the privilege of safety, watching from behind the glass, instead of fleeing past it.