In many European traditions, as well as in Serbian tradition, we can find stories about fairy rings, which represent cautionary tales about the challenges of life. It is said that the fae folk sometimes gather in clearings in the woods or by springs and dance in circles. If mortals stumble upon them, fairies take them into the circle and make them dance to exhaustion, or until only the soul of the person remains. Since the fairy ring, as a motif, is omnipresent and symbolically tells us about situations that are hard or impossible to solve, we can easily conclude that it is related to human weaknesses that are universal and, in a way, inevitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this exhibition, the author Marija \u0160oln tells us about her experience of dancing in the fairy ring. That dance collapsed her life, ego and perception of reality until only her soul remained. She presents two series of drawings. The White series symbolically represents her meeting with the fairy (which in its essence is neither good nor bad,it simply does not follow the same ethical guidelines as humans) and it shows how the author hazarded dancing in the fairy ring. Emotional chaos is represented through body parts, red color and a mixture of different techniques and approaches. It describes the emotional turmoil that is manifested through our bodies when we find ourselves in situations we cannot solve. Emotions of shock, betrayal and righteous fury shake the sediments of other emotions we thought long forgotten. As a result, we are left not only with what we have to deal with in the moment, but also with old traumas related to death, loss, and abandonment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The longer we dance with the fairies, the heavier emotions and situations are brought to light, until we collapse under their weight. There is no control. Control is only an illusion we try to maintain, otherwise, we would have to admit that we cannot control anything outside of ourselves. And so, in ultimate failure and in the darkest abyss, we find our essence, everything that makes us unique and gives us hope. This is the origin of the Black series. The darkness represents the abyss in which we had to let go of everything that was torturing us, and in which we saw the thin strings of hope and sophisticated emotions that lead us toward the light. Those thin strings, shown as gentle white lines in the drawings, are as strong as a spider\u2019s web. Even though they are thin and seem fragile, they possess incredible strength that ties us to life, love and the present moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Black and White series are intertwined in the gallery space, as well as in the author\u2019s mind and emotions. They are quite different in terms of technique, color, and visual expression, but they both hold the same set of symbols that tie the visual chaos into storytelling. With its anatomical parts, the White series is raw, indecent, and shameless, just like life. Here we see motifs of narcissus and mimosa flowers, which carry special meaning for the author. However, we can attach our own meanings to them according to our personal understanding of their symbolism. The author draws these symbols realistically, but scattered and dissonant, because they show what happens when the reality of our lives and bodies falls apart. These scattered eyes, mouths, genitals and flowers are symbolically connected through red or orange watercolor splashes. The author says that the choice of color was accidental, as it was the only paint left in the studio when she started this series. But there is no such thing as chance. Here, red resembles blood, the blood that spurts when someone stabs you in the back, breaks your heart, or when the female body is cleansed during the monthly cycle. When the body breaks apart, what remains is blood that drips, flows, and spurts. The red color here tells us about unfiltered emotions of rage, hatred, impotence, and symbolic death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The author\u2019s favorite flower, the magnolia, dominates the Black series. Here it is a symbol of feminine power and energy. The feminine principle is a motif that ties both series together. It is quite obvious in the Black series, where it can be identified as Yin energy in Eastern traditions, as wet black soil in Slavic tradition that creates life, or as the warm, comfortable darkness of the uterus. However, the female principle is visible in the White series as well, as it shows what happens when calm, peaceful, creative, intuitive feminine energy is pushed into reaction. It then becomes the energy of volcanoes, tsunamis, forest fires, and righteous rage that destroys everything that makes us sick and no longer serves us. Finally, we see the hands. They tell stories, describe relationships, and ask questions. Which story is being told depends on whether they grab, scratch, strangle, or caress, soothe and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These two series show us the raw, intimate, and vulnerable emotions of the author, and they invite us to connect both with her emotions and with our own emotions and situations filled with sadness, hopelessness and rage. States none of us is a stranger to. These drawings are a form of her journaling practice so they are easy to read on a visual level. However, they do not ask us to pity the author, but rather to be compassionate and kind to ourselves. This is an invitation to accept our own vulnerability and madness so that we can recognize, integrate and release them, because that is the only way out of the fairy ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ljiljana Rado\u0161evi\u0107, art historian<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Photographs by Srdjan Jankovic<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","izlozbe":[8],"class_list":["post-4147","izlozbe-cpt","type-izlozbe-cpt","status-publish","hentry","izlozbe-prosle"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerijasanjaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/izlozbe-cpt\/4147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerijasanjaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/izlozbe-cpt"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerijasanjaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/izlozbe-cpt"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerijasanjaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"izlozbe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerijasanjaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/izlozbe?post=4147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}