THE IMPRINT OF TIME
Artists: Lana Vasiljević and Marija Ćalić
Curator: Milica Josimov
March 29 - May 19 2024
The exhibition titled ‘The Imprint of Time՚, presented at the Museum of African Art, consists of selected art works by contemporary artists Lana Vasiljević and Marija Ćalić. The showcased works represent intimate, personal expressions, created through intensive research, introspection and re-examination of their own memories of Africa. The inclination of the Museum of African Art toward contemporary artistic practices, including both artists from the African continent and local artists who refer to Africa as a theme in their work, is exemplified by exhibitions such as this one, which is another in a series of art shows that open the museum space for reflection and dialogue between local authors and ‘spaces’ of the African continent.
The exhibition is based on the research of archives, i.e. memories, which are both personal and institutional. The two artists have totally different expressions and approaches which are, however, connected by a common thread – while one artist uses a museum archive as the basis for her art creations, the other relies on the family archive and corpus of memories that emanate from it. The art pieces express the encounter, and ultimately, the imprint created by this personal meeting with public and private records of the past, whereby, through introspection and re-composition, the artists introduce us to their own realities borne of these actions. This newly formed imprint represents the ‘final layer’ of the creative process and, regardless of whether it relies on official or family histories, it has a very personal style.
In both opuses, the authors invite us as observers to shift our viewing angles, to enter/exit different frameworks and imposed ‘frames՚, and to create impressions and imprints of our own in the process of participation.
Photos from the exhibition opening:
Photos by Bojan Džodan
