Melisa Vreto Vitković
– b. 1989 in Sarajevo. She completed the Secondary School of Arts and Gymnasium in Bihać. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, specializing in Painting at the Teaching Department. In 2020, she completed her doctoral studies at the Faculty of Contemporary Arts in Belgrade, with her doctoral artistic project “The Body as a Social Sensation: The Phenomenon of Clothing as a Second Skin.” Through multimedia artistic practice, she explores the phenomenon of the female body in the context of heritage, tradition, modern society, and the beauty industry, critically addressing issues of identity, the beauty cult, motherhood, the culture of disposability, and aging, in line with feminist and socially engaged practices. She lives and works in Sarajevo, where she serves as an art director at Studio VV.
The female body and female experience have always been the central focus of my artistic interest and research. My works are, symbolically, my visual diaries—each project or piece is tied to a period in my life in which I sought to process various complex experiences, personal struggles, and reflections.
In recent years, I have been engaged in exploring the relationship between the phenomenon of clothing and corporeality, the interplay between garments and the body within the context of contemporary society and the beauty industry. The body we inhabit today serves as a stage for clothing sensations. Garments, dressing, applying makeup, and using beauty products are all part of the theatrical equipment we employ to present ourselves and our roles in everyday life. Through the concept of the body as a social sensation, I wanted to examine the possibilities of incorporating my own body into garments. How can the boundaries between the body and clothing be erased? Where does one begin, and the other end?
The first works to emerge from this artistic exploration were textile installations titled “Second Skin,” accompanied by video works. In one phase of their creation, these pieces were directly connected to my body.1
The garment installations, in the form of dresses, were crafted and sewn using ritual imprints of my skin and industrial beauty products. They are displayed suspended in space in their delicate forms, evoking the memory of the body as if they were the fragile shell of a second skin.2
In contrast to these, there is a ready-made installation—my grandmother’s inherited attire. This installation consists of cotton fabrics with patterns intricately woven and sewn with love, fabrics that my grandmother, who was a young girl about 70 years ago, created and brought into her husband’s home. The “Second Skin” installations symbolically testify to the allure of clothing, its transience, and the diminishing material and spiritual value in modern culture.3
For the installation named “Remains of the Day,” I use everyday discarded materials from beauty products—items collected from drawers, closets, and trash bins, serving as fragments of life and surroundings. These materials inevitably bear the imprints of use, reflecting the clichéd perception of female beauty in consumer society while referencing the urban throwaway culture.
Sculptures composed of intimate, bodily imprints form three-dimensional objects made up of fragmented images of the body. By exhibiting such objects, I offer viewers an insight into the ritualistic, everyday, and intimate moments of creation. Through the transformation of discarded consumer culture objects, I aim to highlight hyper-consumption, conformity, and the instability of the body. I use recycled objects as materials in my production, resulting in the construction of a new object while preserving the memory of the old one’s identity.
The performative use of beauty products symbolizes behavioral patterns that manifest as acts of self-care, akin to offering the body as a sacrifice to the divine concept of beauty. The daily ritualistic practices of beautification—applying, brushing, wiping, rubbing, washing, scrubbing, peeling—almost religiously place our bodies as offerings to the cult of appearance, leaving behind traces and imprints of our existence.456
Examining the female body within the system of representation led to the creation of a series of works with masks titled Beyond Beauty (video, photography, objects). The material used in these works includes commercially available sheet masks and peel-off masks—currently highly popular products in the cosmetic industry.
Marketing campaigns saturated with slogans such as “Look younger – Feel better” primarily advocate for a second skin effect on the face. The act of using a peel-off mask literally involves peeling a layer of skin from the face. Once removed, the mask entirely mimics a second skin—it retains the imprint of the face while containing remnants of dead skin, hair, and various impurities. In this context, each mask in the Beyond Beauty series can be considered a literal DNA self-portrait of mine.789
The dictatorship of beauty, imposed on the contemporary body through media, magazines, advertisements, and beyond, is obsessed with the ideas of eternal youth and trends, reducing us to superficial figures. Within their unrealistic worlds, hyper-sexualized and commodified bodies are marketed alongside the cosmetics and products they use. In the relentless pursuit of beauty ideals and eternal youth, the body ultimately becomes the largest producer of waste on the planet.
Currently, I am working on a project inspired by the theme of motherhood, exploring the ways in which it transforms female identity and influences the biological and psychological changes in women.
The text was written in consultancy with Adna Muslija (2024).
1Second Skin series of works, group exhibition, Art Pavilion "Cvijeta Zuzorić," Belgrade, 2018.
2Second Skin series of works, PitchWise Festival, BKC Sarajevo, 2018.
3Ruho, solo exhibition Beyond Beauty, Gallery of the Faculty of Contemporary Arts, Belgrade, 2020.
4Remains of the Day, installation and details, solo exhibition Beyond Beauty, Gallery of the Faculty of Contemporary Arts, Belgrade, 2020.
5Remains of the Day, installation and details, solo exhibition Beyond Beauty, Gallery of the Faculty of Contemporary Arts, Belgrade, 2020.
6Remains of the Day, installation and details, solo exhibition Beyond Beauty, Gallery of the Faculty of Contemporary Arts, Belgrade, 2020.
7Beyond Beauty, DIY peel-off masks, 2019/2020.
8Beyond Beauty, DIY peel-off masks, 2019/2020.
9Beyond Beauty, DIY peel-off masks, 2019/2020.
-r. 1989. u Sarajevu. Srednju Umjetničku školu i Gimnaziju završava u Bihaću. Diplomirala je i magistrirala na Nastavničkom odsjeku/ Slikarstvo na Akademiji likovnih umjetnosti u Sarajevu. 2020. godine završava doktorske studije na Fakultetu savremenih umetnosti u Beogradu sa doktorskim umjetničkim projektom „Tijelo kao društvena senzacija: Fenomen odjeće kao druge kože“. Kroz multimedijalnu umjetničku praksu istražuje fenomen ženskog tijela u kontekstu naslijeđa, tradicije, modernog društva i industrije ljepote, problematizirajući pri tom pitanja identiteta, kulta ljepote, majčinstva, kulture odbacivanja i starenja u skladu sa feminističkim i društveno angažovanim praksama. Živi i radi u Sarajevu, gdje obnaša posao art direktorice u studiju VV.
Žensko tijelo i žensko iskustvo je oduvijek bila glavna okosnica mog umjetničkog interesovanja i istraživanja. Moji radovi su simbolično i moji vizualni dnevnici – svaki projekat ili rad je vezan za period života u kojem sam nastojala da provarim različita i kompleksna iskustva, lične borbe i promišljanja.
Posljednjih godina sam bila zaokupljena istraživanjem povezanost između fenomena odijevanja i tjelesnosti, odjeće i tijela u kontekstu savremenog društva i industrije ljepote. Tijelo koje živimo danas predstavlja pozornicu odjevne senzacije. Odjevni predmeti, oblačenje, nanošenje šminke i proizvoda za uljepšavanje su scenska oprema koju koristimo kako bismo predstavili sebe i svoju ulogu u svakodnevnom životu. Kroz pojam tijela kao društvene senzacije željela sam da ispitam mogućnosti inkorporiranja vlastitog tijela u odjevne predmete. Kako izbrisati granice između tijela i odjeće? Gdje počinje jedno a završava drugo?
Prvi radovi nastali unutar tog umjetničkog istraživanja su tekstilne instalacije „Second skin“ i njima prateći video radovi, a koje su u jednoj fazi nastanka, bile u izravnoj vezi sa mojim tijelom.1
Odjevne instalacije, u formi haljina, sačinjene su i sašivene od ritualnih otisaka moje kože i industrijskih proizvoda za uljepšavanje. Postavljene su tako da, svojom krhkom formom, vise u prostoru i poput ljuske druge kože prizivaju memoriju tijela.2
Opozitno tome se nalazi ready-made instalacija – naslijeđeno ruho moje nane. Instalacija se sastoji od pamučnih tkanina, čiji su dezeni čvrstim šavovima i s ljubavlju utkani, a koje je nana, kao djevojka prije oko 70 godina, kreirala i donijela u kuću mladoženje. “Second skin” instalacije simbolično svjedoče o zavodljivosti odjevnih predmeta, prolaznosti i manjku materijalne i duhovne vrijednosti.3
Materijal pomoću kojeg gradim instalaciju “Remains of the Day” je opet svakodnevni odbačeni materijal proizvoda za uljepšavanje, koji se skuplja u ladicama, ormarima, kantama za smeće, predstavljajući svojevrsne komadiće života i okruženja. Takav materijal neminovno sadrži otiske korištenja, koji svjedoče o klišeiziranom pogledu na žensku ljepotu u potrošačkom društvu, referirajući se na urbanu kulturu odbacivanja (throwaway culture).
Skulpture sastavljene od intimnih, tjelesnih ispisa otisaka čine trodimenzionalne objekte fragmentiranih slika tijela. Izlaganjem takvih predmeta, omogućavam posmatraču uvid u ritualne, svakodnevne i intimne trenutke stvaranja. Kroz transformaciju odbačenih predmeta potrošačke kulture, nastojim ukazati na hiperpotrošnju, povodljivost i nestabilnost tijela. Reciklirane objekte koristim kao građu u produkciji koja rezultira konstrukcijom novog objekta čuvajući sjećanje na identitet onog starog.
Performativno korištenje proizvoda za ljepotu simbolizira obrasce ponašanja koji rezultiraju predstavljanjem brige o sebi kao prinošenja tijela/žrtve božanskom poimanju lijepog. Svakodnevno upražnjavanje ritualnih radnji uljepšavanja (mazanje, češljanje, brisanje, trljanje, sapiranje, ribanje, guljenje) čini da skoro pa religiozno prinosimo kultu izgleda svojevrsne „žrtve“ u vidu ostataka i otisaka svoga tijela.456
Ispitivanjem ženskog tijela u sistemu reprezentacije nastaje i serijal radova sa maskama Beyond Beauty (video, fotografije, objekti). Materijal koji koristim u tom radu su kupljene gotove ili DIY sheet maske ili peel-off maske, trenutno veoma popularni proizvodi u kozmetičkoj indutriji.
Kampanje preplavljene parolama poput izgledajte mlađe – osjećajte se bolje zagovaraju prije svega second skin efekat na koži. Pa tako korištenje peel off maske bukvalno podrazumijeva guljenje kože s lica. Jednom odlijepljena maska u potpunosti imitira „drugu kožu“ jer pored otiska lica sadrži ostatke oljuštene mrtve kože, dlačica i raznih drugih nečistoća. U tom kontekstu za svaku masku iz serije Beyond Beauty može se reći da predstavlja moj doslovni DNK autoportret.789
Diktatura ljepote savremenog tijela zastupljena u medijima, časopisima, reklamama i sl. opsjednuta je pojmovima vječne mladosti i pomodnosti stvarajući od nas površne likove. Unutar svojih nestvarnih svjetova hipererotizirana i komodificirana tijela se poput objekata prodaju zajedno sa kozmetikom i proizvodima koju koriste, a zarad ideala i vječne mladosti ljepote, tijelo postaje najveći proizvođač smeća na planeti.
Trenutno radim na projektu koji je inspirisan tematikom majčinstva, istražujući načine na koje ono mijenja ženski identitet i utiče na biološke i psihičke promjene žene.
Tekst je napisan u konsultaciji s Adnom Muslija (2024).
1Second Skin serija radova, kolektivna izložba, Umjetnički paviljon "Cvijeta Zuzorić", Beograd, 2018
2Second Skin serija radova, PitchWise festival, BKC Sarajevo, 2018.
3Ruho, samostalna izložbe "Beyond Beauty", galerija Fakulteta Savremenih Umetnosti, Beograd, 2020.
4Remains of the Day, instalacija i detalji, samostalna izložba "Beyond Beauty", galerija Fakulteta Savremenih Umetnosti, Beograd, 2020.
5Remains of the Day, instalacija i detalji, samostalna izložba "Beyond Beauty", galerija Fakulteta Savremenih Umetnosti, Beograd, 2020.
6Remains of the Day, instalacija i detalji, samostalna izložba "Beyond Beauty", galerija Fakulteta Savremenih Umetnosti, Beograd, 2020.
7Beyond Beauty, DIY peel-off maske, 2019/2020
8Beyond Beauty, DIY peel-off maske, 2019/2020.
9Beyond Beauty, DIY peel-off maske, 2019/2020.
