Dogs, bears, lions and other animals in Karlson’s works should be viewed as allegorical, as symbols as they have been used in fables, fairytales and Christian art. Her works are always distinguished from cuddly toy animals by the perception of a moderate existential inevitability.

Edith Karlson’s Vox Populi is equivalent to the cause and effect relationships formulated by various religions – be it karma or original sin. She depicts the heads of various animal; each in the mouth of another animal. The motif of the “savage hunt”, with animals chasing one other and sequentially being caught in the teeth of the animals behind them, is familiar from Christian iconography. As is typical of Karlson, the central idea of Vox Populi is direct, radical and definitive: “Every shit is related to the shit that follows and forms one continuous strand of shit that no one can avoid.”

Edith Karlson (b. 1983) is an Estonian artist based in Tallinn. She acquired her BA (2006) and MA (2008) degrees at the Installation and Sculpture department of Estonian Academy of Arts. In Karlson's sculptural practice, animals and people are the main protagonists. Her often large-scale sculptural pieces produced by means of mixed techniques show a variety of characters, from ceramic dogs to cement dinosaurs and Neanderthals, composed into intricate installations. Karlson has shown extensively in Estonia and been part of several exhibitions abroad. Her recent exhibitions include "Return to Innocence", Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn (2021); "Roots and Ruins", Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn (2020); "Sisters", with Mall Paris, Tallinn Art Hall Gallery (2019-2020); "Do Come in, the Door is Open!", with Mary Reid Kelley and Eva Mustonen, KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn (2019-2020); "The End", with Dan Mitchell, Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn (2019); “Drama is in Your Head V”, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig (2018); “Hudnoi”, with Jass Kaselaan, Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn (2017–2018); “Vox Populi”, Tallinn City Gallery (2016); “Beaten Up By A Thug, Saved By Kindness” with Kris Lemsalu, Michèle Pagel, Ben Washington, Amatorska gallery, London (2015); and “Drama Is In Your Head IV: Don’t Look Down”, Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn (2014). Karlson has collaborated on projects with art collective Gelitin and British artist Sarah Lucas, including “Loch”, 21er Haus, Museum of Contemporary Art, Vienna (2013); "Lucas Bosch Gelatin”, Kunsthalle Krems (2011). She assisted Lucas in the production of the artist’s installation for the British Pavillion at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015.