Sculpture
When I was born, the War ended!, 2022
is a multimedia installation dealing with my personal indirect connection to the Yugoslavian War. I was born in Austria on the 20th November 1995, one day before the Dayton Agreement was reached that formally ended the war. My childhood in the 90s was shaped by regular visits to Bosnia and Serbia where my grandmother was born. Words like warm, sunshine, carefree, laughter, togetherness and love come to mind when recalling these memories. Through the sound of my three year old self talking to my mother, I hope to evoke a sense of youthful obliviousness.
The mass grave is reminiscent of the encompassing quality of a blanket fort, traditionally built by children as a comforting hiding space. Visitors are invited to kneel down to the height of a young child and go inside. Through this, I underline the absurdity of people going about their day while others are brutally killed. By shaping raw clay and clothing with my bare hands, I am developing an intimate and spiritual connection to the individuals that have fallen in war. The wheat is symbolic for death and resurrection, hopefully offering some atonement. The human heart is a marker for the grave, an abject symbol for life, bruised by the horrible fate of the people that lie beneath.
Metal Heart, 2022
Building the metal heart was a way for me to cope with the loss of my grandmother Jadranka. This process was time consuming and exhausting, but gave me peace. By allowing intense concentration on the technicalities of welding and hammering it into shape, I had time to process my thoughts. Through this making, I found more from my material of metal in a metaphorical sense: Metal is forgiving and tough yet easily dented and scratched, nevertheless it is hard to break. My grandmother was the most loving and kind person I’ve ever met, strong in spirit but soft, which I want to reflect through the grandness of this anatomical heart.
Dirt under their Fingernails, 2022
This series of 36 plaster plates was made as part of the installation When I was born, the War ended!.
Failed Rectification, 2022
Initially, this heart was made out of play-doh to assist me in visualising an oversized version made out of metal. The inspiration behind it being my grandmother, who has had heart problems for a while and was hospitalised for different reasons. Over time the play-doh heart hardened and cracked, which is why I attempted to hold it together with wooden sticks.
It has gained new meaning to me after my grandmother died in the hospital, way too early at the age of 67. Therefore the most logical thing for me to do was to mend some of the broken off pieces with gold.
Post-Apocalyptic Settlement, 2019
I discovered an illegal landfill near where I lived and found myself going through all the things that people have thrown away. There I found lots of kitchen appliances that have been dumped and burned, including fridges. Seeing that made me ask the question “Why?”
In response I collected all the rusty material I could find and built a model of a post-apocalyptic settlement, imagining what it would be like for us if it was too late to save the earth. I wanted the sculpture to convey it’s meaning through the material in which it was made. What if the apocalypse happened and our throw-away culture is forced to finally recycle what we already have?