From 25 May to 2 July, Gallery PLUS, the exhibition and sale salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska, hosted Individual Mythologies, an exhibition of works by artists Ana Vasić, Jelena Vučić, and Vesna Majstorović.

The three artists are the co-winners of the student award the MSURS has traditionally presented for the best work in the Exhibition of Senior Students of Painting of the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka for the last eighteen years. During last year’s winner selection process, members of the MSURS jury decided to change the award criteria, giving the opportunity to the winning artist to exhibit her/his works at Gallery PLUS, concurrently with the end-of-studies exhibition by students of the Banja Luka Academy of Arts.

The prize-winning works Rotation and Revolution by Ana Vasić, A White Square on a Black Background by Jelena Vučić, and Are You Born to Be Pretty? by Vesna Majstorović were made as part of the requirements of Intermedia Art, a course taught by Prof. Mladen Miljanović.

Individual mythologies is the umbrella term that can be used to describe most of the works created by the three artists in the last year. Each of them deals with the symbols she deems significant, symbols revelatory of the mysteries of the unconscious and indicative of motive forces.

Although the winning artists take distinct approaches to exploration, the works can be seen as interrelating (engaging in dialogue), in a way which makes them a homogeneous ensemble.

The exhibition was curated by president of the MSURS jury, Lana Pilipović, senior curator at the MSURS.

Ana Vasić was born in Banja Luka in 1995. She graduated in graphic design from the Academy of Arts, University of Banja Luka, in 2017. Her interests include exploration in the fields of graphic design, drawing, illustration, and video art. She has taken part in the annual exhibitions of the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka, the 2014 Exhibition of the Academy of Fine Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Široki Brijeg, an international workshop of video and performance art in Poland (2016), and exhibitions at Art Klub Prostor (2017).

She is the winner of the prize of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska for the best work in the Exhibition of Senior Students of Painting of the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka (2017).

Jelena Vučić was born in Banja Luka in 1994. She graduated in painting from the Academy of Arts, University of Banja Luka, in 2017. Her interests include exploration using the media of video art, performance art, photography, and digital drawing. She participated in the Small-Format Mosaic Exhibition IX in Belgrade (2014), as well as annual exhibitions of the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka, Široki Brijeg Art Colony (2016), an international workshop of video and performance art in Poland (2016), and exhibitions at Art Klub Prostor (2017).

She is the winner of several prizes, such as the prize for the best student’s drawing in the Annual Exhibition of First-year Students of Painting (2014), the Intermedia Art Prize of the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka (2016), the Academy of Arts Student of the Year Prize for 2016/2017, and the prize of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska for the best work in the Exhibition of Senior Students of Painting of the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka (2017).

Vesna Majstorović was born in Gradiška in 1994. A senior student of the Academy of Arts of Banja Luka University. Her interests include exploration using the media of video art, photography, illustration, animation, and public space intervention. She has taken part in the annual exhibitions of the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka, ArtTz Fest in Tuzla (2016), Široki Brijeg Art Colony (2016), and exhibitions at Art Klub Prostor (2017).

She has won the Intermedia Art Prize of the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka (2017), and the prize of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska for the best work in the Exhibition of Senior Students of Painting of the Academy of Art in Banja Luka (2017).