EXHIBITION: ISLAND OF INANNA

18 June 2019

ISLAND OF INANNA

Lina Kovačević, Martina Miholić, Nika Šimičić, Irena Tomašić, Martina Granić
guest: Darija Jelinčić
Bačva Gallery
June 28 – July 21, 2019

Opening of the exhibition: Friday, June 28 at 8 pm at the Bačva Gallery

A multimedia exhibition Island of Inanna, byLina Kovačević, Martina Miholić, Nika Šimičić, Irena Tomašić, Martina Granić, and their guest Darija Jelinčić, will be opened on Friday, June 28 at 8 pm at the Bačva Gallery.

The exhibition is the result of a multimedia research process, based on own life and professional experiences of the artists, with the aim of demystifying the notion of feminism, which has been distorted lately, inadequately used, worn out by constant repetition in every possible context and often has pejorative connotations.

In artists´work, island is a mystical place, circular, sun-bathed by the dome of the Meštrović pavilion. It is also the home of the goddess Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of love, fertility and war (3rd century BC). She is a four-person goddess: besides being a virgin, a mature woman and an old woman (warrior, lover, and ruler) she is also the ruler of the underworld. She is at the same time a self-centered young girl and a rebellious teenager, who is able to break all the prohibitions, opposing various fatherly figures.

Artists are playing with materials such as concrete, wax, stone, textiles; different textures; media, but also objects – instruments for “upgrading” or “repairing” a woman’s body. With this approach, the boundary between the socially conditioned and the biological body is lost, and the sexuality and the female attributes do not provoke shame; on the contrary, they become the qualitative element of every woman,

Starting from the idea of a woman as the primordial creator of the universe, Island of Inanna is a utopian topos filled with artifacts taken from everyday life and pop culture, archeological findings of women’s presence that represent the remaining traces of the existence of the divine female principle. However, the issue of violence against women’s tissue, the cosmetic industry, or the men themselves is opening up, making use of the biological tenderness for capitalist purposes, taking feminism as a good marketing manipulation.

The guest at the exhibition, photographer Darija Jelinčić, did her work through collaboration with Taiwanese performer Chenwei Hsu, who explores the feminine features he possesses in order to gain as much experience as possible and thus understand the feminine nature. He gained interest in the subject by growing up with his mother, father, and two sisters, so he wanted to know and understand the female nature in order to better relate to his sisters and mother, women in general.

Preface – Nika Šimičić