Mirna Pavlovic

Abandoned spaces dot the cityscape like blind spots, existing in temporal incongruities they themselves produce. Theirs is a different reality than our own. They are never truly dead, yet never really alive. Precariously treading along the border between life and death, decay and growth, the seen and the unseen, the past and the present, abandoned places confusingly encompass both at the same time, thus leaving the ordinary passer-by overwhelmed with both attraction and revulsion. An uncertainty of what to do, a discrepancy between the wish to look away and the unconscious desire to step into them.

My images rely on a sense of scale, introspection and imagery of the mind. Photographing abandoned places is not merely a quest to document a society slowly losing its grandeur and its will to prosper and preserve. Nor is it about seeking grandeur in a collapsing structure. It is rather about provoking a certain get-up-and-go feeling. About reclaiming places deemed inaccessible and/or forbidden. About the deconstruction of everyday life.

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb (2008-2014)

• May 2018 – Ethereal – ImageNation Paris, Espace des Arts Sans Frontierès, Paris, France

• Mar / Apr 2018 – À la recherche de passés oubliés, La Bastille, Grenoble, France

• Nov 2017 – ImageNation Paris, Espace des Arts Sans Frontierès, Paris, France

• May 2017 – Mediterranea Young Artists Biennale, House of Leaves, Tirana, Albania

• March 2017 – Viewpoint Gallery, Halifax, Canada

• Dec 2016 / Jan 2017 – Moscow Int. Foto Awards, Franco Crimean Republican Scientific Library, Simferopol, Crimea

• Nov 2016 – Zagreb Salon, Mimara Museum, Zagreb, Croatia

• Oct / Nov 2016 – PhotoVisa, Novorossiysk Historical Museum, Novorossiysk, Russia

• Oct 2016 – Rovinj Photodays, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb, Croatia

• Sep 2016 – Totally Lost, Casa del Mutilato, Forlì, Italy

• Sep 2016 – Totally Lost, Casa del Fascio, Teodorano, Italy

• Jul 2016 – Moscow Int. Foto Awards, Na Kashirke Gallery, Moscow, Russia

• May 2016 – Rovinj Photodays, Heritage Museum, Rovinj, Croatia

• Feb / March 2016 – Moments, PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary

• Oct 2015 – ARTichoke Festival, Studentski Centar, Zagreb, Croatia

• Nov 2014 – Zagreb Salon, National and University Library, Zagreb, Croatia