Ana-Marija Kralj

This past year was the most life changing and challenging year in my life so far.

Throughout the year I felt the saddest than I ever did before, worried about the future and just lost in general. Although those feelings created periods of me not doing any new work they were also usually followed by periods of great inspiration. I made some of my most personal and important work so far during this year.

During 2020/21 I started doing series of illustrations about me being tired. Tired of my surroundings, tired of oppression, tired of injustice, tired of politics, tired of the pandemic, tired of feeling uninspired, tired of life, tired of being tired.

During the second lock down in Croatia I started exploring hiking and exploring forests with my dog. I was fascinated by all the mushroom types I saw and those inspired this series. I used stainless steel scraps I had leftover from my previous works. I shaped them by welding and hammering and combined brushed and polished finishing.

Artwork “MEMENTO” was produced while I was trying to deal with the ending of my relationship during the pandemic. At that point in my life all I felt was great sadness and fear of the future. Life seemed complicated to the point of no return. Although I was trying really hard to adjust to the “new normal” dark thoughts were overlapping in my head. Those are represented by fluid, black strokes in the painting. It was important to me that the shiny stainless steel was also showing through as a glimmer of hope even in the darkest times.

This work was produced while I was trying to deal with the ending of my relationship during the pandemic. At that point in my life all I felt was great sadness and fear of the future. Life seemed complicated to the point of no return. Although I was trying really hard to adjust to the “new normal” dark thoughts were overlapping in my head. Those are represented by fluid, black strokes in the painting. It was important to me that the shiny stainless steel was also showing through as a glimmer of hope even in the darkest times.

During the second lock down in Croatia I started exploring hiking and exploring forests with my dog. I was fascinated by all the mushroom types I saw and those inspired this series. I used stainless steel scraps I had leftover from my previous works. I shaped them by welding and hammering and combined brushed and polished finishing.