In constant search of spaces which belong to her, she becomes obsessed with the feeling of not belonging. Emptiness becomes warm and the only one acceptable. Convinced that she unwaveringly walks through consciousness, she imposes on herself attributes that are not part of her. In the house dominated by cold and mould, in the endless silence of the night, she suddenly opens the door. The scene before her eyes becomes her only story.

Whiteness burdened her for a long time: walking through imaginary snow without feeling that it is inconstant, viewing it as black crystals and a source of heat. The shimmering of the light material ties her truth to fear. Still, this feels like a shelter. She begins to worry only about the blue.

Born in the place she has never left, she remembers each house she has stayed in. The circumstances and the environment have always been on her side, and she long believed that her voice could kill. And yet, she feels guilt and pangs of conscience. She lives in a close, four-member family and was brought up to control her dreams.

This exhibition explores social and spatial dimensions, which deconstruct and investigate the relationships between identity, spatiality and the ideas that represent them. The sitespecific work features monumental figural representations on the walls of the exhibition space. The oversized figures dominate the inner space, making a visual and textual composition, creating possible/imaginary circumstances and visual representations through their own problems. I am trying to create a visual representation with a touch of imaginary vision inserted into a realistically designed space.

When the process of “scratching” begins, various layers become visible in the space in which we exist – separate, ordinary people with our own personal stories and situations, who create the entire picture of a society. The intention is to displace memories within the space itself and encourage reflection of subjective thinking, varying in social contexts. The connection between space and memory, variable positions and circumstances, offers the possibility of different perspectives and an overlap of general and imaginary facts and interpretations.
In my art practice, I deal with the themes moving in the area of identity, gender, body, space and time. Individual exhibitions are grouped around specific themes and concepts, with the use of different mediums, materials and languages. The subjects of my research are personal and universal issues: man and outer appearance, body and the corporeal, transience and belonging, the phenomenon of one’s own experience and perception of the outside and the inner world. I use space as a medium through which I express my own poetics based upon ordinary objects for everyday use and imaginary situations through the concepts of belonging and transience.

These site-specific works aim to visually map and define the spaces which are in a way linked to the woman and her presence, as well as to explore the possibilities of memory displacement and overlap in the same space.
The house of her ancestors. She remembers it: its small windows, the smell of soot, the attic, the rubber doll, the tapestry on the wall and the filthy floor. She was born in a place to which, once she left it, she has never returned. She is convinced that she has found her own space and she will never leave it. In the endless silence of the night she realizes the senselessness of what she was awaiting. She lives in a four-member family bringing them up to dream loudly.
Our stories define the places we share. And the picture we see can be changed by words.

Exhibition will be on display until December 29.

Working hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p. m.

Address: Adresa: Dvorski Trg 1, Cetinje, Crna Gora

Milijana Istijanovic was born in 1982 in Sombor. She received a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Cetinje, Montenegro, Department of Sculpture, under Professor Pavle Pejovic. She has had seven solo exhibitions. Her work has been exhibited in international festivals and projects. She has won the Annual Award for Sculpture of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Cetinje, as well as the First Prize of the Herceg Novi Winter Salon. She has participated in several artist residency programs.

The rapid Romanisation of Risinium began after the subjugation of the Illyrians under King Gentius in 167 BC. Risinium became a typical Roman town, surrounded by walls, with a town centre – a forum in the Carina fields. Ancient tombs – necropolises – were located outside the walls, and in the southern side of town there was a residential area containing the villas of rich Risan landowners and traders. The remains of the eastern portion of a Roman urban villa were found in the early 20th century. Between 1956 and 1962 the mosaic flooring in four rooms of the villa was fully restored and conserved, and the first protective awning built. Another mosaic floor was discovered in 1972, on which conservation work was also done and a roof added.

Photo by TOKO

Partial restoration and conservation of all the walls of the villa around the central yard – the atrium – was also carried out. Roman mosaics decorate the floors of four of the five rooms in the eastern part of the villa, as well as two rooms in the western part. There are only traces of mosaic flooring in the remaining rooms. The technique used was one of large cubes of local grey and black stone, with motifs of the labrys – a double-bitted battleaxe originating from Crete. In the eastern wing of the villa a mosaic was laid displaying plant motifs, using stone cubes of varying size and colour (red, yellow, green, blue, black and white). In the middle there is a circular medallion depicting the Greek god of sleep, Hypnos, in the form of a winged boy leaning on the head of the bed. It is likely that this room was the bedroom of the villa’s owner – the dormitorium. Geometric chessboard-like patterns decorate the mosaic floor of the southern room, and beyond that there are a further two rooms with mosaics featuring geometric motifs and stylised sea life (cuttlefish and squid). It is thought that one of the corner rooms that do not have mosaics was the dining room (triclinium), with typical Roman couches.

Photo by TOKO