Nevia Pavletic

Rarely do we think of grief in terms of loss of one’s home. This selection of drawings and photographs examine the experience of grief and loss for my home country, and the longing for a life that could have been. Every time I return home to Croatia, I find myself frantically searching for images that remind me of home, whether it is in the landscape, nature, architecture, or even ordinary objects. These are the images that sustain me while I am away, and provide temporary emotional nourishment and spiritual refuge. They are at the same time beautiful and melancholic, a gentle reminder of the passing of time in the spaces that have nurtured me.

The drawings represent my emotions—specifically the feelings of loss and yearning—simplified down to abstract visual imagery. My drawings are both dream-like and surreal, hinting at the blurred boundaries between fantasy and reality; past and present; memory and truth. The sculptural nature of my drawings speaks to how memories and emotions are transformed into tangible material via line, color, and shape, which is then subsequently “mapped” onto the ambiguous sculptural forms that represent my emotional/psychological body. — Nevia Pavletic