Men's Games, Over and Over Again, 2020

wood, metal, plastic

50cm 10cm x 100cm

Three oversized sculptures, reminiscent of table football figures, constitute the subject of this work. Unlike popular expectations, however, these figures make a difference: they represent female rather than male players. Here they are appropriated with an intention to problematise the perpetually unresolved issue of gender inequality in Montenegro, which continues to shape its society even nowadays.

The work is a commentary on traditional viewpoints and attitudes carved by centuries-long matrices of common thinking, behaviour and social relations that have been predominantly formed by an omnipresent - and also, "oversized" - rule of patriarchy.

This is the reason why the jerseys, worn by female players as shown hereby, work towards undressing and baring naked (over and over again) popular yet powerful stereotypes according to which a woman is doomed to remain fixed to prescribed social roles and positions, objectified and without any opportunity to either complain or invert given conditions in her own favour. To expose the iconographic complexity of those conditions, converging towards the same point of perspective - regardless of their outward appearance, the work puts forward three models as three conventions, distinguished merely on the surface but essentially the same. One of the players personifies a traditional woman, understood as a good wife and mother, who takes care of her household and her family.

Her jersey consists of a long skirt, whereas her head is veiled by an indispensable scarf, the inimitable sign of her humbleness - and her submissiveness, too. Another player looks like a silicone-inflated doll accessory, reduced to a mere object of male sexual desire. Her jersey is barely noticeable, making her look almost undressed - and ready-to-use. The last of them is a working woman: obsessed with her career, she is dressed in a strictly female business suit.

Whatever they tend to showcase by wearing their typical outfits, they keep forgetting - or ignoring - one simple element: the game they take part in has not been fair from the very beginning, which creates an absurd situation plagued by conflicts - among themselves. They play a male game, according to male rules, and one against the other.

There is no visual or material reference of HIS presence during the game, but HE is the only one who scores points, Over and Over again.

And Then Again, Men’s Game, wood, metal, paint, 2020.

50 x 90 x 10cm (one piece)

And Then Again, Men’s Game is the artwork consists of three sculptures, which look like oversized female table football players.

Appropriation of table football players (in this case not male, but female) serves me to re- examine gender issues and refer to patriarchal matrices, which continue to shape Montenegrin society.

My female players wear jerseys, which represent stereotypes that reduce a woman to a certain role, or even an object in society. One is a traditional woman- the personification of a good wife and a mother, who takes care of the home and the whole family.

Her jersey is a long skirt or a costume, as well as the obligatory head scarf. The next one is an inflated silicone girl- doll reduced to a sexual object. Her jersey is barely noticeable, she is almost naked.

The last one is a business woman, obsessed with her career. She wears a strictly business women’s suit. The game these women play is not fair from the start. This creates an absurd conflict situation.

They play one against the other, but a male game, according to the male rules. Although HE is not present, HE is the one who always manipulates.