Skin of Work

Banović focuses on rituals in daily life and their celebration. Bakula shows us beauty in everyday materials by transforming the skin and showing what is hidden beneath the surface.

Koštana Banović (1960, Sarajevo) explores in her films, performances, drawings, and objects ritu-als as the core of the human search for meaning. Ritual plays a central role in her oeuvre, as a “sculpture of time” experienced in the present: a conduit from the past and a prescription for the fu-ture; a choreography that activates objects, material, and symbolism.

Banović uses film as a form of investigation, mapping different communities and their environ-ments. In recent years, she has also focused on the ritual of humans in relation to nature. Her work combines the power of art with a meditative attention to the urgent ecological challenges of our time. Rather than traditional ethnographic reporting, her work centers on significant moments of daily life and their celebration, free from an academic approach. Her drawings and sculptural ob-jects similarly reference the traces of life itself and the desire to chart cyclical experiences. For one drawing, for instance, Banović rhythmically punctures the paper with hundreds of tiny holes.

Koštana Banović presents a selection of her work at SANAA Gallery and simultaneously at Utrecht Lokaal in the Centraal Museum. Banović is the recipient of the 2023 Boellaard Award.

Matea Bakula (1990, Sarajevo) creates unexpected combinations in her work.Torn cardboard with a layer of rubber, foam rubber covered in plaster, she engages with the properties of the material and endeavors to mold them to her will. Pushing the boundaries of the materials creates an interes-ting tension in the work. Her inspiration draws from both mundane issues and larger systems. It ranges from something small like replacing a roll of toilet paper to observing the behavior of fungi and the transformation of a city. She gives the mundane beauty. Matea Bakula’s work is soft yet po-werful. . Marble-like columns lie folded against the wall or lean wearily against it, like bored visi-tors at an exhibition. There’s emotion within. Or gray square pillars that are cinched and folded, where the skin has burst open revealing a soft, bright blue interior. Like a candy bar with a soft fil-ling—or like glowing lava beneath a hard crust.

Matea Bakula has the solo show Release at Lumen Travo galerie until 21 December. She will parti-cipate in Coda Paper Art in 2025. Courtesy Lumen Travo.