Brigita Antoni

— born in 1987 in Bar, Montenegro. As a visual artist informed by the knowledge she acquired during her studies in graphic design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cetinje, she began showcasing her work through digital media such as GIFs, digital prints, and video. Over time, she allowed her works to take on more organic forms, reinterpreting them as acrylic paintings, sand/concrete sculptures, found objects from nature, and drawings. Currently, her artistic practice revolves around installation forms that bridge the digital and the organic. Thematically, she explores the relationship between science and global ecological transformations driven by scientific discoveries, particularly in astronomy and optics. Over time, she has also embraced the idea of incorporating nature not just as a thematic element, but as an actual exhibition space for her works.

I was born in a small town in the south of Montenegro. My home was near a sandy beach, a place where, alongside the fascinating and wild nature, the sea and the river meet. My earliest memories were shaped by these landscapes, which can easily be recognized in my work. The vastness of long sandy beaches, the moonlight over the sea—these are some of the visuals I have depicted in my works. These representations are accompanied by themes of observing the environment (nature) and the inner feelings it evokes in us during moments of interaction with it. Within this theme, I have often used the moon as a key detail and symbol for human states or emotions. On this occasion, I will take as an example my project titled The Moon is Wet and Wild,12
which I had the opportunity to exhibit in 2019 at the Archaeological Museum in my hometown. In these works, I present the moon as a “mysterious light” or a black stain that I “cast” onto the viewers. This black stain, in fact, reflects their state of inertia, passivity, stagnation, and immobility, or that state of consciousness that keeps the masses in a silent, universally accepted, yet false and distorted sense of security. This black stain, which opens the possibility for a minimal yet necessary correction of the viewer’s perspective on the world, arises from personal perception of nature and the society around me. As a synthesis of intellectual, emotional, and cosmic energy from which this series emerges, it takes shape as a poetic manifestation of public protest speech, a discreet gesture of dissonance with the given, static state of things.

Growing up in a strictly patriarchal environment, I witnessed the suppression and obstruction this society imposes on any individual who does not conform to its prescribed system of behavior and thought, especially women. This voicelessness manifested as an inability to express oneself, something I often encountered personally and found deeply frustrating. Yet, it also became a crucial turning point that led me to focus on visual art and writing as my profession. While creating art helped me feel less like a victim of circumstances, over time it also created additional frustration with existing in this state and the difficulty of identifying with the nation. I often asked myself what home meant to me and how to position myself about the political reality surrounding me. If, as human beings, we strive for security, both physical and psychological, and the concept of homeland is a distorted reality, then connection with nature remains one of the few possibilities for identification. In this case, I do not emphasize nature as a romantic idea of homeland or an escape to safety, but rather as a necessity inherent to our human nature in the face of the globalized artificiality in which we exist. While working on the project Matter Dolorosa3, which I began in the spring of 2021 during the second COVID-19 lockdown, I touched on this theme through an installation in a private pool where I placed sealed trash bags filled with plastic. During two months of recreational walks dedicated to collecting plastic waste in nature, I encountered an interesting contrast. It lay in the tension between the quality of time spent in nature, which brought me peace and often led me to meditative states, and the presence of things like scattered waste, foul smells, and dead animals, sometimes intertwined, which I often found visually disturbing. In this contrast, I realized, above all, that any project dealing with the theme of nature is not necessarily defined by ecological activism but rather by the formal and conceptual characteristics of the artistic work. I believe that through a universal and global artistic language, free of political propaganda, my message may have more lasting effects because it invites reflection and individual presence to global events. It primarily calls for presence in the space of nature through meditation and acceptance of the world as it is, even though there is a need to hide or camouflage something “unpleasant.” Another thing I have come to believe is that human identity is prone to transformation and that a sense of security can also be found in experiencing nature as part of us, in accepting our being as simultaneously fragile and powerful.

Beyond my individual experience, the uncertainty of the planet Earth further motivates me to engage with these themes. In the post-capitalist system, we witness a need for control that is losing its meaning, and the illusion that technological advancement and optical possibilities can prevent or predict some destruction that might disrupt our life on Earth is becoming increasingly transparent. I consider the instability and rapid pace of climate change to be a crucial issue for human life. That is why the theme of natural disasters remains important to me, as it helps me visually depict a contrasting reflection of the subject as their natural reaction to the place or situation they find themselves in. In this way, I have the possibility to examine differently perceived realities, which is key to my exploration of the image and the visual world as a whole.

1Image: Brigita Antoni, The Moon Is Wet and Wild, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 2x100x70cm. Courtesy of the artist and The Museum of Local History, Ulcinj.

2Image: Brigita Antoni, The Moon Is Wet and Wild, 2019, rapidograph on paper, 10x15cm. Courtesy of the artist The Museum of Local History, Ulcinj.

3Image: Brigita Antoni, Matter Dolorosa, 2021, waste bags, plastic materials. Courtesy of the artist.

4Image: Brigita Antoni, Dead End, 2019, digital print, 230x50cm, tablet. Courtesy of the artist.

5Image: Brigita Antoni, Dead End (detail), 2019, digital print, 230x50cm, tablet. link: https://vimeo.com/387196659?share=copy. Courtesy of the artist.

6Image: Brigita Antoni, Kulshedra, 2024, Ada Bojana, Ulcinj, Montenegro. Courtesy of the artist. Link to the video: https://youtu.be/5Ay_xyEhdRg

7Image: Brigita Antoni, Burning Bush, 2015, digital print, 100x70cm. Courtesy of the artist.

8Image: Brigita Antoni, Mala (The Little One), 2021, digital print, soil, 100x60cm. Courtesy of the artist.

9Image: Brigita Antoni, Roads, 2017, digital prints, rock, 200x130cm, 30x40cm, Milcik Award Finalists Exhibition, Montenegrin Art Gallery Miodrag Dado Duric. Courtesy of Jovan Milošević.

10Image: Brigita Antoni, Softness of Being, 2017, digital prints, LED panel lights, 60x60cm. Courtesy of the artist

11Image: Brigita Antoni, Female, 2015, digital print, 100x70cm. Courtesy of the artist

— rođena je 1987. u Baru, Crna Gora. Kao vizuelna umjetnica, formalno informisana znanjem koje je stekla tokom studija grafičkog dizajna na Akademiji likovnih umjetnosti na Cetinju, počela je prikazajući radove kroz digitalne medije kao što su gif, digitalni print i video. Vremenom je dopustila da njeni radovi dobijaju više organske forme prerađujući ih u akrilne slike, skulpture od pijeska/ betona, pronađene objekte iz prirode, crtež, da bi se trenutno njena umjetnička praksa sastojala od instalacionih formi između digitalnog i organskog. Tematski, istražuje odnose između nauke i ekoloških globalnih transformacija izvedenih iz naučnih otkrića, posebno u oblastima astronomije i optike. Takođe je kroz vrijeme iskoračila u ideju da prirodu, osim kao temu uključi i kao prostor u kojem izlaže svoja djela.

Rođena sam u malom gradu na jugu Crne Gore. Moj dom se nalazio nedaleko od pješčane plaže gdje se, osim fascinatne i divlje prirode, nalazi i mjesto u kojem se more i rijeka sastaju. Moja najranija sjećanja oblikovana su ovim pejzažima koji se mogu lako uočiti i u mojim radovima. Prostranost dugih pješčanih plaža, svjetlost mjeseca iznad mora, neki su od vizuala koje sam predstavljala u svojim radovima. Ovi prikazi su propraćeni temama koje se tiču posmatranja okoline (prirode) i unutrašnjeg osjećaja koji ona budi u nama u trenutku interakcije sa njom. U sklopu ove teme često sam koristila mjesec kao bitan detalj i simbol za ljudsko stanje ili emociju. Ovom prilikom uzeću kao primjer moj projekat pod nazivom „Mjesec je vlažan i divalj“12, koji sam imala prilike da izlažem 2019. godine u Arheološkom muzeju u svom rodnom gradu. U ovim djelima prikazujem mjesec kao „tajanstveno svjetlo“ tj. crnu mrlju koju „bacam“ na posmatrače, a koja, zapravo, slijeće na njihovo stanje inertnosti, pasivnosti, stagnacije i nepokretnosti, odnosno, na ono stanje svijesti koje drži mase u prećutnom, univerzalno prihvaćenom, ali lažnom i deformisanom osjećaju sigurnosti. Ta mrlja koja otvara mogućnost minimalne, a ipak neophodne korekcije pogleda na svijet posmatrača, nastaje u ličnoj percepciji prirode i društva oko sebe. Kao sinteza intelektualne, emocionalne i kosmičke energije iz koje ova serija radi, oblikuje se u poetsku manifestaciju javnog protestnog govora kao diskretnog gesta neusklađenosti sa datim, statičnim stanjem stvari. 

Odrastajući u strogo patrijarhalnoj sredini, bila sam svjedok prigušenosti i opstrukcije koje ovo društvo pruža svakom pojedincu koji se ne uklapa u određeni sistem ponašanja i mišljenja, posebno ženskom biću. Ta bezvučnost se odrazila na nemogućnost izražavanja na koju sam češto i lično nailazila i koja mi je zasmetala, ali koja je ipak bila bitan preokret da fokus moje profesije bude vizuelna umjetnost i pisanje.  Iako mi je stvaranje pomoglo da se manje osjećam kao žrtva okolnosti, vremenom je to stvorilo i dodatnu frustraciju u opstajanju u državi i problem identifikovanja sa nacijom. Često sam se pitala šta je za mene dom i kako da se postavim u odnosu na političku stvarnost koja me okružuje. Ako kao ljudska bića težimo sigurnosti kako u fizičkom tako i psihološkom smislu, a koncept domovine je jedna deformisana realnost, onda povezanost sa prirodom preostaje kao jedna od mogućnosti identifikovanja. U ovom slučaju ne naglašavam prirodu kao romatičnu ideju domovine (ili bijeg u sigurno), nego kao jednu nužnost koja pripada našoj ljudskoj prirodi u odnosu na globalnu izvještačenost u kojoj opstajemo. Tokom rada na projektu „Matter Dolorosa“3, koji sam započela na proljeće 2021. godine tokom drugog lockdown-a u kovid pandemiji, dotakla sam se ove teme kroz instalaciju u privatnom bazenu u koji sam postavila zatvorene otpadne kese ispunjene plastikom. Tokom dvomjesečnih rekreativnih šetnji  posvećujući vrijeme sakupljanju plastičnog otpada u prirodi, naišla sam na jednu vrstu zanimljivog kontrasta. On se ogledao u tenziji između kvaliteta vremena provedenog u prirodi koje mi je unosilo mir i često me dovodilo do meditativnih stanja, i stvari kao što su različiti otpad, smrad i mrtve životinje koje su povremeno bile i sjedinjene i koje sam često doživljavala vizuelno uznemirujuće. U tom kontrastu shvatila sam, prije svega, da svaki projekat koji se bavi problematikom prirode nije nužno određen ekološkim aktivizmom nego formalnim i konceptualnim karakteristikama umjetničkog rada. Moje ubjeđenje je da jednim univerzalnim i globalnim umjetničkim jezikom, lišenim političke propagande, moja poruka može možda imati dugotrajnije efekte zato što poziva na razmišljanje i individualnu prisutnost u odnosu na globalna dešavanja. Ona prevashodno poziva na prisutnost u prostoru prirode kroz meditaciju i prihvatanje stanja svijeta kakav jeste, iako postoji potreba da se nešto što je „neugodno“ sakrije ili kamuflira. Druga stvar u koju sam se uvjerila je da je ljudski identitet sklon transformaciji i da se osjećaj sigurnosti može identifikovati i u doživljavanju prirode kao dijela nas, u smislu prihvatanja našeg bića kao istovremeno fragilnog i moćnog. 

Osim mog individualnog iskustva, neizvjesnost planete zemlje me takođe dodatno pokreće da se bavim navedenim temama. U postkapitalističkom sistemu svjedočimo potrebi za kontrolom koja gubi smisao, a iluzija da je razvijanjem tehnologije i optičkih mogućnosti moguće da se spriječi ili predvidi neka destrukcija koja bi mogla uznemiriti naš život na zemlji, je sve transparentnija. Nestabilnost i brzinu klimatskih promjena smatram bitnim pitanjem za ljudski život. Zato tema prirodnih nepogoda ostaje važna za mene jer mi pomaže da vizuelno prikažem kontrastnu refleksiju subjekta kao njegovu prirodnu reakciju u odnosu na mjesto ili situaciju u kojoj se trenutno nalazi.  Na taj način imam mogućnost preispitivanja različito percipiranih stvarnosti, što je ključno za moje ispitivanje slike i vizuelni svijet uopšte.

1Foto: Brigita Antoni, Mjesec je vlažan i divalj, 2019, akril na platnu, 2 x 100 x 70 cm. Ustupljeno ljubaznošću umjetnice.

2Foto: Brigita Antoni, Mjesec je vlažan i divalj, 2019, rapidograf na papiru, 10 x 15 cm. Ustupljeno ljubaznošću umjetnice.

3Foto: Brigita Antoni, Matter Dolorosa, 2021, otpadne kese, plastika.  Ustupljeno ljubaznošću umjetnice.

4Foto: Brigita Antoni, Dead End, 2019, digitalna štampa 230 x 50 cm, tablet. Ustupljeno ljubaznošću umjetnice.

5Foto: Brigita Antoni, Dead End, 2019, digitalna štampa 230 x 50 cm, tablet, detalj; link: https://vimeo.com/387196659?share=copy 
Ustupljeno ljubaznošću umjetnice.

6Foto: Brigita Antoni, Kulshedra, 2024, Ada Bojana, Ulcinj. Ustupljeno ljubaznošću umjetnice.  https://youtu.be/5Ay_xyEhdRg.jpg

7Foto: Brigita Antoni, Gorući žbun, 2015. digitalna štampa, 100 x 70 cm. Ustupljeno ljubaznošću umjetnice. 

8Foto: Brigita Antoni, Mala, 2021, digitalna štampa, prirodna zemlja, 100 x 60 cm. Ustupljeno ljubaznošću umjetnice.

9Foto: Brigita Antoni, Roads, 2017, digitalna štampa, kamen, 200 x 130 cm; 30 x 40 cm Izložba finalista Milčik nagrade Crnogorska galerija umjetnosti Miodrag Dado Đurić. Ustupljeno ljubaznošću Jovana Miloševića.

10Foto: Brigita Antoni, Mekoća postojanja, 2017, digitalna štampa unutar LED panela, 60 x 60 cm. Ustupljeno ljubaznošću umjetnice.

11Foto: Brigita Antoni, Ženski, 2015, digitalna štampa, 100 x 70 cm. Ustupljeno ljubaznošću umjetnice.