Vigorous women’s voices – a bold visual prose in several stories from North Macedonia

You hear that? That’s the sound of a book that’s never been opened. Don’t ever think that you can get their attention. Whose? The men who write the reviews, who run the publishing houses, who edit the magazines. The ones who decide who gets to be taken seriously, who gets to be put up on a pedestal for the rest of their lives.


This is part of a conversation between two female writers in the mid-20th century, crucial to the development of the film “The Wife”1. The personal story of a ghostwriter sets the film’s discourse on sexism against women and their personal and collective struggles against exclusion from dominant historical narratives, tendencies still present in all aspects of late-capitalist societies.


We are aware of such marginalizations, discreditations, and (self-)withdrawals throughout history, and it’s not as if we’re surprised by the information. What astounds us is that the actions taken in the pursuit of equality and the other rights involved are consistently met with active oppressive forces pushing back towards normative values, prevailing institutional binary differences and roles, and towards the patriarchal and traditional.


The hegemonic positions of power that sustain the accumulation of capital rely on the labor of marginalized “Others” and on the perpetuation of inequality and exploitation, while also shaping gender roles. In other words, dominant power politics largely determine the degree and constructs of femininity. As Katerina Kolozova notes, citing Judith Butler, culture is what conditions gender and heteronormativity2. Namely, according to Butler: “When the relevant ‘culture’ that ’constructs’ gender is understood in terms of such a law or set of laws, then it seems that gender is as determined and fixed as it was under the biology-is-destiny formulation. In such a case, not biology, but culture, becomes destiny.”3


Therefore, when culture becomes destiny, i.e. when it is understood broadly as a fusion of society, politics and history that shapes gender issues, this archive seeks to contribute by briefly highlighting the work and efforts of women artists and curators in the field of visual art in the country over the past 70 years, offering a perspective that challenges the dominant heteronormative culture. Through this contribution – the statements of the artists from North Macedonia and this text – the linguistic, visual, narrative, symbolic, and other characteristics of female art can be indirectly distinguished. However, a more in-depth analysis grounded in post-structuralist feminist critical thought will be reserved for a later occasion. The presentation of women’s personal voices through the statements in this archive, as a strong and prominent presence in prose/artistic production, of “small” and personal stories, and this text, aim to amplify their voices and stand up for the disenfranchised in the social continuum within the narrow field of visual art. This text highlights group exhibitions that focus on the practices of women artists, with the intention of confronting the male gaze. Individual exhibitions are presented on the pages of the artists themselves. This endeavor is also an attempt that carries the potential for further critical re-examination, not only of the patriarchal structures of production, interpretation, and narrative construction, but also of liberation through unlearning from the male worldview through the presence of data and facts that confirm the determination of political stance and engagement with a caring and critical attitude.


Sexism, misogyny and gender-based violence persist in contemporary society. Women are still the primary caretakers of private life, bearing the main responsibility for the home and family, while continuing to face discrimination and economic subordination in the labor market and division of labor 4. In the realm of Macedonian art and culture, women artists remain significantly underrepresented in exhibitions and institutional collections5. This disparity has been pointed out in the statements of the artists Irena Paskali, Jana Jakimovska, Zorica Zafirovska, Slavica Janešlieva, and Dijana Tomik Radevska, who have acknowledged that despite sporadic positive changes, the issue remains rife.


All of this seems to be a vague legacy of the internal socialist politics of Yugoslavia. Though there were good practices of emancipation and equal participation of women in public and political life, legally resolved and economically reinforced, the treatment of the ”woman question” as a general class issue made it impossible for women to become aware of their own being. The overall production of life and socialist society upheld the patriarchal (authoritarian) family with patriarchal morality and the division of labour between the private and public spheres. That is “Being an employed woman, a worker in public life, a woman does the same work as men, but in the private sphere she remains woman, biological creature and mother, with the chores and tasks that are adequate to ‘woman’s nature’”6.


Women’s historical records show that, though on a declarative level, antifascist and anticolonial Yugoslavia, with its self-managing workers’ socialism on a national scale and a foreign policy of a non-aligned country, pursued a gender-sensitive agenda. During this time, women actively exercised international rights pertaining to personal, family, and political matters, fully participating in all spheres of modern society. Notably, women fighters played a significant role in the national liberation struggle, actively contributing to the resistance against fascism.


“I believe it is worth repeating, again and again, so as not to forget as a practical experience that 5,752 women were part of the military units in the occupied territory, and 306 women lost their lives on the battlefields across the country. As many as 141 women were awarded the prestigious Order of the Partisan Memorial 1941, and 7 women were awarded the Order of the People’s Heroes of Macedonia, including Mara Naceva, Olivera Jocić – Vera, Ibe Palikukja, Estreja Ovadija – Mara, Elpida Karamandi, Vera Aceva – Dosta, and Fana Kochovska. At the very foundation of our present state there are countless nameless women, men and children, each with their own life stories, who changed the lives of people and, in particular, transformed the lives of women.”7


The equality with men that women achieved during the war, in the period of brotherhood and unity, was guaranteed by Article 24 of the first Constitution of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY) in 1946, when women were also granted the formal right to vote8. The Women’s Antifascist Front (WAF, 1945-1953) was a women’s organization under the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, operating to advance women’s rights in society. This organization played a major cultural, educational and economic role in the emancipation process. Building on the legacy of the magazine “Makedonka” [“Macedonian Woman”] and the WAF, which were established in 1944 in Macedonia as cultural and educational platforms for women’s rights, the project entitled “Invisible Archives” has been launched as a research project in the field of women’s history, along with two publications9 centered on these archives. Both collections feature artist Hristina Ivanoska, due to her affiliation with the topic as well as her long-standing artistic engagement with the person of Rosa Plaveva, one of the first women fighters in the country. It is also worth mentioning the project “Museum of Women’s Stories”, which, from a woman’s perspective, aimed to explore, perceive and (re)affirm women’s role in the socio-political, social and family context by reading the cultural meanings, symbols, and associations hidden behind the historical facts, with a special focus on the cities of Bitola, Prilep and Krushevo10.


In the early 20th century, within a patriarchal and conservative context, several women artists pioneered in the artistic field, including Katja Eftimova (1910-1996) – the first academically trained Macedonian painter, Keraca Visulcheva (1910-2004) and Lena Stefanova (1913-1991), all three educated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, followed by Mena Spirovska – Menche (1928-2011) – the first academically trained graphic artist in the country, Liljana Gjuzelova (1935-2018), Mira Spirovska (1939), Rada Petrova (1930), Ana Temkova (1943), Aneta Svetieva (1944), Makedonka Andonova (1944), Evgenija Demnievska (1946), Olga Milić (1948). Due to limited resources, this selection only includes Borka Avramova (1924-1993), the first academically trained sculptor in Macedonia, whose 1954 exhibition is the first solo exhibition by a female artist in the country. Nevertheless, we anticipate that future editions of the archive will facilitate the inclusion of all artists currently absent from this list. In addition, we intend to expand this text by incorporating relevant exhibitions and projects that were not adequately represented due to limited space.


Female art, at the level of addressing production by women artists as a feminist aesthetic and also reflecting on gender inequalities, is not adequately addressed in Yugoslavia. Women artists as a group were primarily featured in group exhibitions commemorating March 8 [International Women’s Day] or general art shows including women artists without deeper conceptual or philosophical interpretation. The latter exhibitions predominantly showcased works with a creative arsenal of a sexual, subjective, or purely representative nature, including depictions of housewives, mothers, inspirations and muses, as well as sexual symbols and fantasies, thus reinforcing the gender hierarchy.


The initial endeavors in this field emerged within the post-Yugoslav society, during the transitional period from socialism to capitalism. At the level of visual arts, several group exhibitions addressed the phenomenon of female discourses and art that challenges gender roles and expectations11, seeking liberation from the male gaze and from interpretations and evaluations based on male perspective.12 Sonja Abadzieva, in her pioneering book Deep Breathing. Aspects of the Woman’s Discourse in the 20th Century Macedonian Art, published in 2001, underscored that criticism and theory not only disregarded the interpretation and evaluation of women’s art during the first eight decades of the 20th century, but also failed to spark any debates on the differences between the sexes and the uniqueness of artistic expression13. She further asserted, “Women artists who paint or sculpt adhere to the norms prescribed by the dominant sex, and their works are subsequently interpreted according to these norms.”14


The exhibition “Liquor amnii” (Amniotic Fluid), curated by Suzana Milevska and Sheila Pepe in 1996 at the Chifte Hamam in Skopje and in 1997 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA, presented different approaches to women’s artistic expression and included artists Iskra Dimitrova, Marilyn Arsem, Zaneta Vangeli, Meredith Davis, Margarita Kiselicka Kalajdzievska, Cathy Nolan, Mirna Arsovska, Mari Novotny Jones, Nora Stojanovic, and Margaret Tittmore. In 2001, the large-scale project “Capital and Gender”, curated by Suzana Milevska, featured a public art project, an exhibition and a conference on the main theme of the influence of capital on gender differences in countries in transition from state to market economy15.


The exhibition “Narcissisms – Text(ures) of the (Ego) Face in the Works of Macedonian Artists”16, held at the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje in 1999, featured 17 artists from the country at the invitation of curator Sonja Abadzieva. The artists included Elizabeta Avramovska, Mirna Arsovska, Zaneta Vangeli, Ljupka Deleva, Iskra Dimitrova, Hristina Ivanoska, Margarita Kiselicka, Liljana Klimova, Marina Leshkova, Monika Moteska, Maja Raunik, Aneta Svetieva, Vesna Stefanovska, Ana Stojkovic, Dijana Tomik Radevska, Vana Urosevik, and Simonida Filipova. A significant aspect of the project was a series of conversations published in a local newspaper at the time, “Makedonija Denes”, by journalist Jasna Frangovska, which was noted as a rarity in the local scene. The exhibition aimed to create space for the specificities of female art and the processes of female individuation and self-analysis.


The exhibition “Shining the Site, Artistic Intercommunications in Skopje”17, curated by Sonja Abadzieva and held in 2001 in downtown Skopje, critically examined the private roles of women as primary caregivers in the home, while showcasing their interventions in public space18. It included the works of artists Elizabeta Avramovska, Zaneta Vangeli, Gordana Vrencoska, Ljupka Deleva, Natasha Dimitrievska, Iskra Dimitrova, Hristina Ivanoska, Slavica Janešlieva, Monika Moteska, Jasminka Novkovska, Nade Pesheva, Vana Urosevik, and Violeta Chapovska.


On an international level, artists Zaneta Vangeli, Beti Avramovska and Iskra Dimitrova participated in the international exhibition “Women Creators of the Two Seas”,  organized by UNESCO as part of European Capital of Culture 1997: Thessaloniki, while Iskra Dimitrova participated in the group exhibition “Global Feminisms” at the Brooklyn Museum, NYC, in 2007, where feminist artists from over fifty countries discussed or performed their works at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art forum.
Even now, in the late capitalist period, the familiar, normative gender roles and perceptions are perpetuated by patriarchal social and political relations. Another exhibition, entitled “Engendered Perceptions”, held in 2019 at the MoCA – Skopje and curated by Kumjana Novakova and Blagoja Varoshanec as part of a larger partnership project, critically addressed the usual gender labels and offered a counterweight to the dominance of the male gaze in global capitalism, consumerism, and the post-socialist state.

The exhibition was also discussed at the feminist platform “Meduza”19, which serves as a space that discursively shapes the feminist worldview and way of life. Several exhibitions have been organized within the Festival of Feminist Culture and Action “Firstborn Girl”, including exhibitions by Jana Jakimovska and Ivana Mirchevska, and a presentation by Kristina Bozhurska, as well as within the organization behind the festival “TiiiT!Inc.”20

The organization promotes translation of important feminist authors and educational materials21. Other festivals and organizations also occasionally present projects addressing gender inequality and feminism, such as CRIC – Festival of Critical Culture22 and AKTO festival for contemporary arts.23
The exhibition “Broken Time. And The World Is Made Again by What it Forgets”24 curated by Ivana Vaseva, Blagoja Varoshanec, Sofia Grigoriadou, Iva Dimovski, Vladimir Janchevski, and Nada Prlja, also featured contemporary women artists alongside nearly 200 works from the MoCA collection, and had a special segment dedicated to confronting the male gaze.


Commencing and concluding with the slogan “the personal is political,” all the personal and intimate stories of the artists involved, as well as the mentioned organizers, curators, producers etc., collectively represent an attempt to reinvent the norm, challenge the male-dominated history of art, and embody a shared political stance and voice of resistance. This sentiment resonates with Sojourner Truth’s famous speech “Ain’t I A Woman?”, in which she passionately advocates for equal treatment, underscores the capabilities of women and is critical of the white male privilege, asserting, “I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman?”25


The text was written by Ivana Vaseva (2024).

1 “ The Wife” is a 2017 drama film directed by	Björn L. Runge	and written by	Jane Anderson, based on the 2003 novel of the same nameby Meg Wolitzer.

2Katerina Kolozova, ‘Poststructuralism’ in: Kim Q. Hall and Ásta (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2021); see: link

3Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (Routledge, 2007), p.12.

4More information can be found in Marija Topuzovska Latkovikj, Mirjana Borota Popovska, Ana Chupeska, Nita Starova, Dejan Gjorgjev, Women’s study 2020/2021 Republic of North Macedonia (Skopje: Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 2020).

5 A general overview on this topic, further reading Maura Reilly, Taking the measure of sexism. Facts, figures and fixes, Artnews, August, 2015; see: link

6Isidora Ilić and Boško Prostran (Doplgenger), ‘Yugoslav Socialism on Film: Yugoslav selfmanagement and women’ in: We Have Built Cities for You On the contradictions of Yugoslav socialism (Belgrade: Center CZKD - Center for Cultural Decontamination, 2018), p. 194.

7 Verka Bunteska, ‘March 8th - International Women's Day’, part of the author's presentation at the third 
edition of the "First born Girl" festival on March 7, 2015, in Femoar (Skopje: Tiit!Inc. – Skopje, 2016).

8 Isidora Ilić and Boško Prostran (Doplgenger), ‘Yugoslav Socialism on Film: Yugoslav selfmanagement and women’ in: We Have Built Cities for You On the contradictions of Yugoslav socialism (Belgrade: Center CZKD - Center for Cultural Decontamination, 2018), p. 191

9A The pubications include Invisible archives: Makedonkа - Organ of the WAF (1944-1952), historical experiences and cultural memory 
see: link

and Invisible Archives Women in the periodicals from Vardar Macedonia between the two world wars 
see: link

both books published by Center for Research of Nationalism and Culture (CRNC), Skopje.

10 Publication available at link

11 Some of the projects by Shqipe Mehmeti, Dita Starova Qerimi, Marija Sotirovska Bogdanovska, Valbona Fejza explore these topics.

12A series of other events, including texts on feminism published in the magazines Margina, Forum, and the Seminar on Contemporary Feminist Thought (held at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje in 1999), the Research Center for Gender Studies established by Katerina Kolozova at the Euro-Balkan Institute, the first feminist magazine in Macedonia, “Identities: Magazine for Politics, Gender and Culture” (since 2001, edited by Katerina Kolozova and Žarko Trajanoski), and others, directly or indirectly influenced the exhibitions or maybe it was the spirit of the time.

13Sonja Abadzieva, Deep Breathing: Aspects of the Woman’s Discourse in the 20th Century Macedonian Art (Skopje: Skenpoint, 2001),p.27

14Ibid.

15 See more at link

16 See more at link

17 See more at link

18Artists Ivana Sidjimovska, Verica Kovacevska	 and  Biljana Isijanin, as well as Slobodanka Stevcheska, as part of the artistic group OPA, and Nada Prlja have made notable contributions to dealing with public space in recent years, while Aleksandra Petrushevska Ristovska	 is more concentrated on painting interiors.

19See: link

20See: link

21Book 25 Stories of Women in History or the educational material Why March 8? Call for Educators.

22Exhibition and publication by Šejla Kamerić.

23 Event Woman and a Half, performances by Tanja Ostojić, Persefoni Myrtsou etc. See: link

24 See more at link

25Sojourner Truth delivered the speech in 1851 at a Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio.