‘Mother’, 2016
Technique: wire, sponge, polyester non woven, fabric
Dimensions: 65 cm x 25 cm x 55 cm
This piece is a part of installation, called “Mother”, which is in construction at the moment. The piece represents a pair of female arms which go from the wall towards the observers, hiding the body of a woman they belong to and portraying a welcoming gesture.
Motherhood is one of my permanent occupations, both in my private life and art work. Twelve years ago, in the work called “Breasts” I considered the problems of bringing up a child as a single parent in a situation of having no job and living in a society in a process of transition. The accent of my work was not on poverty, but on love, as the only resource of hope at that moment.
Installation “Mother” continues exploring motherhood, but from different point of view, nowadays, when my child grew up: how to come back to art, in society which has changed in the meantime, what is my new role in present society…
As well, through this work I am reconsidering my relationship with my own mother, whose untimely death, ten years ago, left many controversial questions about mother’s role in my life, revealing dark side of a kind of love I have never suspected.
My name is Gordana Belić. I was born in 1966. I have been living and working as a free lance artist in Belgrade, Serbia.
PSYCHOLOGY
From 1985 to 1992 I studied at the Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Psychology in Belgrade. After that I was educated in Gestalt psychotherapy under Professor Lidia Pecotić from 1992 to 1996. After several years of working with clients, I felt exhausted with talking with people endlessly. I felt that I, my colleagues and our clients, all related closely to psychotherapy, got more and more egoistic and conceited, but less creative and spontaneous. I had decided to leave professional psychotherapy.
VISUAL ART
I graduated from the Faculty of Fine Art, Belgrade, Department of Sculpture 2003 where I also finished my Master studies in 2007. Since 2003 I displayed my works at several solo exhibitions, performances and many group exhibitions and art workshops in the country and abroad. Since 2003 I have been a member of the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia (ULUS) in the status of a free-lance artist.
INSIDE ART
Since 2014 I have been working on my art-research-educational program INSIDE ART. I see this project as a part of alternative educational system. Also, it can be understood as an activism in art. It can be useful as a supplemental part of psychotherapy, life-coaching method, or, simply, a way of spending time during periodical crises such as: adolescence, menopause, getting divorced, becoming a refugee… For me, this program is an expression of my style of living, which is always in transformation, and closely connected with what I have worked on, who I have loved and what I believe in.
My artwork has always been closely related to my private and personal life. Drawings, making sketches, writing notes, has from my early childhood been my way to explore the world around me and inside me. Since those days nothing has changed except my life has become more complicated, and my knowledge of art and world around me more confusing.
My work starts with a question, or a problem, which has obstructed my life for a long time, but my efforts to find a solution in real life have no results. Then, I undertake an “analytic investigation” of the problem, in my head, trying to dismantle it to the tiniest details. After that, I try to create a solution for the problem by making an object or drawing, using various materials. I choose those kinds of materials, colors or techniques which I feel similar to my intuition of solution. I make, in that way, at the same time both artistic and magical objects. I have displayed my works at many exhibitions, but their magical effect can only be felt by a person who believes, like me, that art can teach, discover and heal our soul.
Gordana Belić