MARIJA JAKUPANEC & TONKA SUŠEC / UNTOLD STORIES
The opening of the exhibition "Untold Stories" is on 15.04.2026 at 19:00
FROM THE PREFACE OF THE EXHIBITION
"Unlike traditional graphic techniques that imply clearly defined procedures, collography is based on freedom of creation and openness to experimentation. Its name derives from the French word collage (gluing), and its meaning refers to its main character – gluing different materials to the substrate, whereby a wide range of different materials can become an integral part of the graphic matrix.
This technique is the common point of the authors. Two artists/students of the Academy of Fine Arts use collography in two completely different ways, creating their own graphic cycles. It is by bringing two cycles of these authors of the same technique into direct contact (joint exhibition) that she additionally presents the richness and diversity of collography. Both cycles were executed in intaglio printing, but the approach to creation itself was completely different. The result of different creative processes describes the freedom that collography provides in terms of approach and material, without clear frames.
Habits that we consider personal are rarely entirely ours. Smoking, although an intimate gesture, reflects broader social patterns and shaped identities. In this context, quitting smoking becomes an act of rejecting imposed narratives and the beginning of questioning one's own position: "Is my place changing?". The ritual of everyday life, once interrupted, opens up space for the disintegration and reassembly of identity through fragments, traces and remnants.
The second segment of the work starts from a different approach, one that is not based on personal experience, but on the exploration of the medium itself. The focus shifts to the material and its materiality as an active participant in the process. Without a predetermined narrative, the work is created through a dialogue with the material that reacts, provides resistance and directs the flow of work. Through the exploration of the relationship between the matrix and the imprint and the experimental procedures of collography, the process becomes the primary place of meaning. The works thus function as records of processes that are open, unpredictable and in constant development, where the visual language arises from the very possibilities of the medium."
Marija Jakupanec and Tonka Sušec
FROM THE CURRICULUM VITAE
Marija Jakupanec (2001, Zagreb) is a 2nd year graduate student of Fine Arts, Department of Teaching (Department of Graphics) at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, under the mentorship of Assoc. Prof. Prof. Dr. Art. Igor Čabraja. In her work, she experiments with the technique of collography, and in addition to graphics, she expresses herself through drawing, painting and collage. The basic methodology of her work is collage, which she translates into various media and techniques. She has exhibited at ten group exhibitions, and independently in collaboration with the KVADAR collective. She has participated in numerous educational and artistic research projects, including the international project Ecologies of Absence: Learning from Fragments in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Bauhaus Museum, Dessau.
She is the winner of the Rector's Award for great teamwork, scientific and artistic work in 2020.
Tonka Sušec (2000, Zagreb) is a second-year graduate student of the Teacher Training Department in the class of mentors Gordana Bakić, Marko Tadić and Grgur Akrap. Her artistic practice is mostly focused on the processes of translation and transformation, exploring the relationship between the perception of imagination and memory, often associated with childhood. She has participated in group exhibitions and projects, including Community Challengers, Grožnjan Summer School, Vizura aperta, as well as the international exhibition What is Art? at the Razvid Gallery and the international project Bauhaus Ecologies. In 2025, she had a solo exhibition as part of the Khaos collective. She is the president of the newly founded J10 student club and was awarded a special award by the Council of the Academy of Fine Arts for the academic year 2024/2025 for her work.
The exhibition in the Šira Gallery can be viewed during the working hours of the Gallery (Mon-Fri: 9-16 h, 18-20 h, Saturdays: 11-16 h) until 01.05.2026.