You are invited to the opening and viewing of the exhibition Animals and Friends by Bojan Mijatović at the Wall of the Barutana Creative Quarter from Friday 8/05/2022 at 19:30.
In the series, we find remnants of images of animals from the author's long-term archive, which he processed over different periods. Through experimentation, he develops a language that, although it involves different approaches, repeats itself. He translates this language into the seemingly banal images he presents in the series Animals and Friends (Animals and Friends). The presented series is already the third in a series of series with this title, and it is not the last either. With the very title of the series, the author draws attention to the problem of addressing or understanding the meaning and indicates that it is a kind of game. Can't an animal be a friend and a friend can't be an animal? "I heard information that the human brain was able to develop to the extent we know it today precisely because it had a dog as a friend. Because the dog watched over its owner all night, he was able to sleep peacefully." – BM
Just as an animal adapts to its environment, so does the series Animals and Friends adapts to the space in which it is displayed. In a series of photographs, the author plays with meaning and its multifacetedness; it combines visual and content information under a common denominator. The animal is presented as the main actor in the series of works, but it appears not only through the motif, but also through the context, which is often hidden or camouflaged at first glance. With various creative approaches, he manipulates the final understanding of the image and its meaning, leaving the viewer with an open path to interpret them. He perceives the act, where the image of a cat changes color from brown to red, as a simple experiment in which he observes what happens to the image and its further meaning. The image begins to speak a new language, which enables the viewer to read and understand differently. Sometimes the image is influenced by external information, such as inscription FAST CHICKEN. With this caption, he seals the understanding of the image and emphasizes that there is nothing else in the photo but literally that. On the other hand, he pays attention to simple compositions in which he places animals in new environments. They are surrounded by e.g. with clouds or waves, sets traps for them, performs experiments on them and similar things. In meaning, symbolism, imitation of animal nature, or in a combination of all the above, he tries to keep their meaning.
Animals and Friends is a series where a number of images from the author's saturated archive meet, and in it animals come together that, despite their different types of animality, peacefully communicate with each other.
