Family Photography

The Family Photography exhibition is the product of dialogue and cooperation between the Štab Gallery (Serbia) and the Vagon Gallery (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Contemporary art spaces that affirm and present the work of younger generation artists, through their efforts position contemporary art as a space of engaged affirmative thinking about mapping art today. Family photography explores identity related to geographical area, creativity and social segments that influence work. Individuality. And everything we know as ours. An intimate relationship between individual identity and the cultural layers that shape it. Family photography sounds like a document of the moment? It is a layered part of a critical examination of individual functions and freedoms in a contemporary context. Through interdisciplinary works, artists Tajana Dedić Starović, Nikola Tomić, Irma Beširević, Denis Haračić, Ognjen Milošević and Isidora Branković examine different segments of influence on collective and individual consciousness. Freedom sounds like a romantic comedy in which I have no role? And the modern world is a walk on a sheepskin? Sometimes! In consciousness, almost always. The performance “Say It Right” explores the power of words and repetition as tools for internal transformation. Because repetition is the mother of knowledge? I know! My dad always told me that too. A mantra, as a powerful verbal formula, has the ability to penetrate the deepest layers of consciousness, to direct thoughts, emotions and internal states towards a certain goal. The work of Tajana Dedić Starović represents an act of consciously directing attention to internal processes, where repetition becomes a ritual act that bridges the gap between the unconscious and the conscious. In the work Herbarium, artist Nikola Tomić explores the deep and complex relationship between man and nature – a fierce thread that connects us to ecological systems whose health and survival we mercilessly influence. Through the motifs of herbariums, collections of plant species that are collected, studied and catalogued, Tomić creates an artistic record of tree species that are on the verge of survival or have already been lost due to human activity. The herbarium becomes a symbol of ecological sacrifice. And whose victims are we? It will be the same, a careless attitude towards nature in which we are also included as an indispensable point of life. Well, wait! We have another identity. Individual. Stable. And real. I Think You Don't See Me the Way I See Myself x5! Irma Beširević plays with superficial representations and the legacy of digital aesthetics, while at the same time raising questions about control, mediation and manipulation that shape our digital identity. The installation evokes a sense of irony and unease, focusing on invisible power structures that influence our behavior. By presenting digital systems through the aesthetic prism of flux and finding unexpected visual elements, she explores the boundaries between the real and the constructed, between the "I" that consumes content and the "I" that is shaped by technological interventions. Denis Haračić, through his work, presents a deeply humanistic reflection on imperfection as an essential human trait. As we face the pressures of perfection imposed through social networks and digital media, Haračić explores aspects of dehumanization and fallibility through depictions of portraits and figures, highlighting vulnerability as an important segment of identity. In the Sleeper series, the artist thematizes the escape from the overload of contemporary society, where automation, capitalist routine and focus on profit lead to emotional numbness and loss of authentic personality. Identity sounds like a heavy burden we have to carry. There is always a hidden renaissance somewhere next to us. Through the work of Ognjen Milošević, we witness the discovery of identity by freeing ourselves from the context. His meditative approach and sublime, divine view of nature and the underworlds that are everywhere. In us. The search for eternal beauty, the breeze of spirituality and the embrace of the Sun, remains deeply rooted in the artistic practice of Ognjen Milošević. Through her work Eyes are the reflection of the soul, Isidora Branković ironizes the approach to individuality and originality that is specific in contemporary society. Identity is stifled by the constant battle of extreme consumerism, mass media and cultural trends that uplift the masses. Mass, local, political, economic and social influences create an integral part of what we can call the Self. You have to take off your clothes so I can see your pupils! The exhibition Family Photography enters and examines the sphere of existence of internal and external conflict in the control of all that we are and want to be. The influences of the collective consciousness, which like every mother eats her children! Through the prism of the mother's family, which leaves indelible fragments of a difficult identity in us, which we never wanted to take over. Who am I? It works as a question for two! Who am I in heels and feet? Who am I with my stomach and intestines? Who am I with the smell of saliva? Who am mom, dad and all of you who climbed so that I don't grow up.