Artist’s Statement

2024 Friends’ School Visual Arts Prize recipient and 2025 Art2Words Writing Prize stimulus art work

This exhibition explores the way people imbue objects with meaning and memory, transforming them into reflections of identity. I’ve chosen 38 objects that hold personal significance, inspired by a wall my mother created in our home—a maximalist display of objects from our lives. This wall captured what our family valued most, linking us to our home in Yugoslavia and our love of creativity. Motivated by her approach, I curated my own collection of objects that similarly resonate with my experiences. Displayed in a 1.8 meter-tall row, I invite viewers to engage with each object, drawing them into a narrative as they contemplate the significance of each item.

I chose cardboard as the medium to connect with themes of materialism and the commercial exchange of goods. Its simplicity conveys an artificial quality, suggesting that it’s the meaning within objects that gives them true value. In poetry, cardboard often represents creativity, transience, and the everyday—ideas closely aligned with my concept. One object, for example, is a branch inspired by a piece of driftwood I found on a beach in New Zealand when I was five. My family and I spent an unforgettable afternoon building a cubby house with natural materials, and this stick became a makeshift chandelier, symbolizing that memory. The branch has since become a link to my past, embodying the joy of that day and the relationships that shaped me.

By reimagining these 38 meaningful items into intricate cardboard forms, I aim to invite viewers to reflect on how their own identities may be expressed through the objects and memories in their lives.

I am a young artist from Melbourne and Tasmania, shaped by my Italian and Yugoslav heritage. Growing up in a creative household with my mother, an artist, I developed a passion for aesthetics and maximalism. Outside of art, I love musical theatre, performing in school and local productions and I adore working as a gallery attendant at MONA.