Exhibition “Artistic Dialogues of Women Artists – Sevdah” in Bijelo Polje

As part of the Days of Bosniak Culture in Montenegro, a notable exhibition of paintings and graphics by 15 women artists of different generations and artistic poetics will be opened on March 31, at 8 PM, at the gallery of the Public Institution Center for Culture in Bijelo Polje. The curators of the exhibition are Aldemar Ibrahimović and Selma Đečević, while the program is organized by the NGO Bijeli Ljiljan from Rožaje and the Bosniak Council in Montenegro.

In her critical review, art historian Dr. Anastazija Miranović highlights that the exhibition of works by women artists from various generations, educational backgrounds, and artistic aspirations does not necessarily fall under the category of “feminine handwriting” or “female artistic script.” The works of some artists are well-known (e.g., Seida Belegović, Sabaheta Masličić), while younger artists are boldly building or beginning to shape their artistic credo. The diversity of interests, media, genres, and motifs reflects the individual uniqueness of the artistic poetics of the authors, as well as the distinctive richness of their talents.

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Artistic Dialogues of Women Artists – Sevdah

SELF-REALIZATION OF FEMININITY

The exhibition “Sevdah” represents yet another valuable project aimed at the presentation and affirmation of diverse cultural practices in Montenegro. Through artistic dialogues, the audience is introduced to the contemporary creativity of women artists who have achieved poetic authenticity in various media: painting, graphics, drawing, graphic design, and illustration. These works reflect unique individual creative peculiarities, regardless of whether they draw inspiration from memorial experiences, lyrical associations, realistic objectivity, surrealist approaches, or experimental typography and symbols.

By emphasizing multiple identity distinctions and specificities, this project seeks to “dismantle” monolithic perspectives in favor of the multiple, plural, and ever-changing. It aspires to a culture of diversity, composed of creative responses to the concrete circumstances of the present, and promotes “prophetic” visions of the potential of cultural pluralism. One particularly intriguing aspect of the exhibition is its “axis,” which revolves around the specificity of femininity, underscoring that identity cannot be reduced to a single position. Instead, contemporary society’s affiliations intersect and vary.

Through artistic works, this exhibition fosters dialogue with oneself and the Other, connecting, among other things, with an awareness of identity that strongly emanates through culture. These dialogues of Bosniak women strengthen individual and intimate self-awareness and self-identification within a cultural space of diversity, providing an opportunity for fully free expression. They contribute to the formation of a multicultural community, which draws its greatest inspirational and cohesive strength precisely from this diversity.

Selma Đečević – Theorist of Contemporary Art