Pathetic Fallacy 

Sarah Joncas created this artwork, "Pathetic Fallacy", rendered with delicate realism using a muted palette of grays, pinks and browns. A young woman is at the centre, her melancholic expression amplified by the tears on her face. The scene is framed by jellyfish and a stormy sky. The composition uses the formal device of mirroring, visually linking the inner emotional state of the woman to the natural world. This pathetic fallacy is a literary device where nature reflects human emotions. The jellyfish and stormy sky mirror the woman's tears and troubled heart. The artist destabilizes established meanings by embedding a tension between the hyperrealism of the figure and the surreal, symbolic context. As viewers, we are compelled to negotiate this interplay of reality and symbolism, reflecting on how our own emotions might be intertwined with the world around us. The jellyfish and stormy sky serve as semiotic markers of inner turmoil.