un petit cauchemar romantique
ø120 cm, acrylic painting and silk screen printing on canvas, metal frame, 2024
details
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Fragments of Michelangelo’s Last Judgment overlap with poses from the
Kama Sutra. Like a screen memory, the work both conceals and exposes —
reflecting the disillusionment that follows desire, in life, in war, and in art,
when hope collides with the weight of reality.
In my recent practice, I revisit a recurring motif: the sky viewed through branched
treetops — a vision sparked by the euphoric enchantment of falling in love during
the spring of 2005. As that initial romance faded, these sketches morphed into
nightmarish abstractions, mirroring the tangled interplay between the idealism of
art and the messy realities of everyday politics.
Through persistent reworking, I fought to preserve the vividness, color, and
innocence of that fleeting moment, much like one clings to hope amid societal power
struggles, systemic misogyny, or political upheaval.
While attending psychoanalysis, I recognised this imagery as Freud’s “screen
memories” — benign shields guarding me from personal and collective traumas, from my
childhood in a dissolving Yugoslavia to the breakdown of my marriage and experiences
of motherhood and abuse.
Just as art negotiates its place within institutional and societal constraints,
these branched treetops reflect both an escape from and a confrontation with grief,
control, and the nightmares woven into daily political life.
Exhibitions
2025 – Screen Memories, group show, Berlin, Germany
2024 – Un petit cauchemar romantique, solo show, Sales Gallery, Belgrade