Ivana Bukovac

My work

More details about my work and experience

I consider clothes and body to be two interconnected aspects from old times. Clothes have always been the reflection of society, and at the same time indicative of its basic characteristics so as to recognize ethnical and religious affiliation more easily.
The correlation between these two complex concepts has very deep roots, ever connected with the question of identity.
Is the clothes what defines a person's identity or is the person wearing those clothes the one who connects certain clothes to a specific geographical area or period of time?
From this complementary relationship between clothes and body, it can be concluded that clothes is a kind of social beauty which owes its life to social body establishment.

It is know that traditional costume is one of important attributes which determines ethic identity.

According to this, it is by definition determined by place in which it is created, at the same time, has a different function: protection from evil, social status indicator, as well as determination of specific geographical area.

In that sense, traditional costume gains the status of a uniform, which is in constant conflict with strict and puzzling facial expressions of painted woman, reminding us of the riches of our traditions. The other, equally important part of my life are the installations and objects made of human hair.

Hair installations speak of relationship between memories and people who are part of it, evident in crochet art made of hair from different people.

Hair, usually used for proving someones's identity, gains the role of identifier which can be interpreted as the keeper of one's individuality as well as memories connected with it.

Therefore, weaving the hair from different people, their identities become intersected, and in this way they lose their individual character and become a part of a completely new, collective identity where personal experience becomes but a memory suppressed in time.