Isidora Branković
–b. 1999, Banja Luka, BiH. She graduated in Intermedia Art at the Academy of Arts, University of Banja Luka. She is currently pursuing her master’s studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, specializing in the New Media program. She expresses herself through performance, video art, photography, painting, and installation. In addition to her artistic engagement, she actively works in the field of artistic production, organizing and developing the scene for the young generation of contemporary artists in Bosnia and Herzegovina through the Vagon Gallery, which she founded in 2022, and the Citizens’ Association Prostor.
My artistic practice is based on the language of the intuitive, the ritualistic, and the ironic. In works born from lived experiences, the faces of parents, friends, and relatives appear. Although rooted in personal experiences, the narratives in my video works, performances, photographs, installations, and paintings expand and transform into sharp observations, critiques, and mockery of contemporary social, political, and economic norms.
I see performance as the foundation of visual expression, a driving force behind works created in other media. Poppies and Roses 1, Statement Under Oath 2, and We Will Leave in Silence 3 exude dignity and values associated with the notion of the marginal. The locations where my video works are filmed affirm this statement, as I choose sites from my personal topography, such as the abandoned Incel factory and Medeno Polje (which at one time represented an escape from the city, a place for weekend homes, only to later become something entirely opposite due to industrialization). I treat these places as formative factors in my work.
Remaining attached to the marginal, like a voyeur transmitting another’s experiences, I explore the hidden within the everyday and, through immersion, reveal the consequences of post-socialist reality. My works are dominated by the motif of ideology shaping daily life. Behind the elaborate ideological narratives and the imposed beliefs that must be “defended,” poor living conditions lurk—there is no space for reflection when one must fervently fight for a predetermined goal.
My works function as acts of diversion, meant to capture attention while social and economic insecurity lurks in the background. Song, dance, and pilgrim-like movements allude to past and present political structures, which use these same ideological tools to shape public discourse.
In the very act of presenting myself, both as an artist and as an individual seeking the viewer’s undivided attention, the gaze is diverted from the ruins upon which I stand. My visual works provide insight into lived experiences and intimate topographies while simultaneously provoking reflection on expectations and systemic limitations that shape contemporary identity.
Through these visions, I aim to provoke the viewer, encouraging critical thinking about the ideologies shaping our everyday experiences. In the works Love Me Gently and How to Become a Bird, I convey the experience of pain from two different perspectives. Kiss Me Softly 4 addresses the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany, alluding to the extreme migration of people in search of a better life.
How to Become a Bird? 5 functions as a mantra of freedom. Throughout the piece, we see the sky. From below. And the judge of freedom. Filmed from a bird’s perspective, we witness both the struggle for survival and the brutality of existence. In my artistic practice, I often use the strategies of fables to depict social currents and their impact on both individual and collective identity.
Art is the medium through which I filter the complexities of social norms, struggles, and delusions. It allows me to separate the personal from the collective while simultaneously merging them into universal stories that belong to all of us. Through art, I find a way to speak about pain, injustice, freedom, and hope—themes that are woven into every gesture, movement, and frame of my work.
My works are not just testimonies; they are invitations to contemplation, introspection, and questioning. They serve as mirrors reflecting the ruins that warn us and the margins that define us. They are silent witnesses of time. What I strive to achieve is not a definitive answer but a space for dialogue—a space where the intimate becomes political, where the everyday becomes ritualistic, and where irony opens the path to honesty.
This is a practice that does not end with a single work or a single exhibition—it is a continuous process of questioning and creation, guided simultaneously by doubt and hope.
Text was written in consultancy with Adna Muslija (2025).
1Isidora Branković, Poppies and Roses, video performance, video still, 2020.
2Isidora Branković, Statement Under Oath, video still, 2023.
3Isidora Branković, We will leave in silence, video performance, video still, 2024.
4Isidora Branković, Kiss me softly, video still, 2022.
5Isidora Branković, How to become a bird?, video, 2024.
-r. 1999. u Banjoj Luci, BiH. Diplomirala je Intermedijalnu umjetnost na Akademiji umjetnosti Univerziteta u Banjoj Luci. Trenutno pohađa master studije na Fakultetu likovnih umetnosti u Beogradu na programu Novi mediji. Izražava se kroz performans, video umjetnost, fotografiju, slikarstvo i instalaciju. Pored umjetničkog angažmana, aktivno djeluje u oblasti umjetničke produkcije, organizujući i razvijajući scenu za mladu generaciju savremenih umjetnika u Bosni i Hercegovini kroz rad Vagon Gallery, koju je osnovala 2022. godine, i Udruženja građana Prostor.
Moja umjetnička praksa zasniva se na jeziku intuitivnog, ritualnog i ironičnog. U radovima nastalim kroz proživljeno iskustvo, pojavljuju se lica roditelja, prijatelja i rođaka. Iako ishodište imaju u individualnim doživljajima, narativi video radova, performansa, fotografija, instalacija i slika se nadimaju i prerastaju u oštra zapažanja, kritike i podsmijeh savremenih društvenih, političkih i ekonomskih normi.
Performans doživljavam kao osnovu vizuelnog izražaja, kao pokretač radova nastalih u drugim medijima. Makovi i ruže 1, Izjava pod zakletvom 2 i Ćuteći ćemo otići 3 odišu dostojanstvom i vrijednostima koje se vezuju za termin margine. Lokacije na kojima su snimani video radovi afirmišu ovaj iskaz, uzimajući u obzir da biram mjesta iz lične topografije, poput napuštene fabrike Incel i Medenog polja (koje je u jednom trenutku predstavljalo bjekstvo iz grada i mjesto gdje su se nalazile vikendice, da bi kasnije industrijalizacijom postalo nešto sasvim oprečno). Ova mjesta tretiram kao formativne čimbenike svojih radova.
Ne odvajajući se od marginalnog, poput voajera koji prenosi iskustva drugog, istražujem skriveno u svakodnevnom i kroz imerziju razotkrivam posljedice post-socijalističke realnosti. Djelima dominira motiv ideologije koja oblikuje svakodnevni život. Iza razrađenih ideoloških narativa i njihovim posredstvom nametnutih uvjerenja, koja “valja braniti”, kriju se loši životni uslovi – nema prostora za razmišljanje ako se treba vatreno boriti za predodređeni cilj.
Moji radovi funkcionišu poput diverzije, namijenjene da privuče pažnju, dok se u pozadini nazire socijalna i ekonomska nesigurnost. Pjesma, ples i hodočasnička kretanja predstavljaju aluzije na prethodne i vladajuće političke matrice, koje se koriste istim takvim provjerenim ideološkim alatima kako bi oblikovale javni dijalog.
Upravo u procesu prezentovanja sebe, kao umjetnice i individue koja traži posmatračevu nepodjeljenu pažnju, skreće se pogled sa ruševina na kojima stojim. Vizuelni radovi pružaju uvid u proživljena iskustva i intimnu topografiju, dok istovremeno provociraju refleksiju o očekivanjima i sistemskim ograničenjima koja oblikuju identitet današnjice.
Kroz ove vizije, nastojim provocirati posmatrača, podstičući na kritičko razmišljanje o ideologijama koje oblikuju naša svakodnevna iskustva. Kroz radove Ljubi me nježno i Kako postati ptica, prenosim iskustvo bola sa dvije različite perspektivne tačke. Ljubi me nježno 4 tematizira graničenje Bosne i Hercegovine sa Njemačkom, aludirajući na ekstremne migracije stanovništva u potrazi za boljim životom.
Kako postati ptica? 5 Djeluje kao mantra slobode. Tokom čitavog rada vidimo nebo. Odozdo. I sudiju slobode. Video rad sniman iz perspektive ptice, vidimo koljača. Istovremeno smo svjedoci borbe za opstanak, ali i brutalnosti opstanka. U svojoj umjetničkoj praksi često koristim strategije basne, kako bih prikazala društvene tokove i njihove uticaje na individualni, ali i kolektivni identitet.
Umjetnost je medij kroz koji filtriram kompleksnost društvenih normi, borbi i zabluda. Njome odvajam lično od kolektivnog, dok ih istovremeno spajam u univerzalne priče koje pripadaju svima nama. Kroz umjetnost pronalazim način da govorim o boli, nepravdi, slobodi i nadi – temama koje su utkane u svaku moju gestu, pokret i kadar.
Moji radovi nisu samo svjedočanstva; oni su pozivi na razmišljanje, introspekciju i preispitivanje. Služe kao ogledalo ruševina koje nas opominju i margina koje nas određuju. Oni su tihi svjedoci vremena. Ono što nastojim postići nije konačan odgovor, već prostor za dijalog. Prostor gdje intimno postaje političko, gdje svakodnevno postaje ritualno, a gdje ironija otvara put ka iskrenosti.
To je praksa koja se ne završava jednim radom ili jednom izložbom – to je kontinuirani proces preispitivanja i stvaranja, vođen istovremeno sumnjom i nadom.
Tekst je napisan u konsultaciji s Adnom Muslija (2025).
1Isidora Branković, Makovi i ruže, video performans, video still, 2020.
2Isidora Branković, Izjava pod zakletvom, video still, 2023.
3Isidora Branković, Ćuteći ćemo otići, video performans, video still, 2024.
4Isidora Branković, Ljubi me nježno, video still, 2022.
5Isidora Branković, Kako postati ptica?, video, 2024.
