Vlasta Delimar
Untitled, 1986.
combined technique
200 x 140 cm
MG-6360

Over time, feminist art evolved from an unexpected "phenomenon" to one of the critical determinants of contemporary artistic production. The explicitly feminist artistic discourse of Vlasta Delimar (1956) reexamines the construction of female identity, which the author simultaneously perceives as both collective and personal. Delimar started performing in the seventies of the last century as an associated Group of Six Artists member. Within the framework of post-conceptualist searches, through provocative performances, she explores topics related to the female body and the position of women in society, as well as male-female relationships. With body art, that is, with her own body, she goes beyond stereotypical social codes and interprets deviant social phenomena through artistic self-reflection and self-representation. By using new media and artistic accents, including various props, characters, actions, and environments, she questions the role and position of women in society on a symbolic-expressive level.
Despite the autobiographical approach, Vlasta Delimar is characterized by a cyclical exploration of relationships and communication mechanisms, an insistence on reconciliation, and closer self-awareness of our existing gender and sexual differences. Photography is her primary medium, enabling direct documentation and (self) presentation, which she manipulates through interventions such as painting, cutting, or, in this case, collage on silk fabric. With a kind of aggressive approach, with a solid frontal exposure, it disrupts the traditional power dynamics between the observer and the observed, especially challenging the notion of objectification of women and the female body.

Text: Marta Radman, curator of the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Marta Radman
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb