IMPRINTS • TRACES • SPACES

ECHO OF FREEDOM

On Thursday, May 29, 2025, the 73rd May Exhibition of Graphics was opened at the Graphic Collective Gallery. As one of the most important and longest-running events dedicated to graphic art in Serbia and the region, the exhibition presents artists of various generations, sensibilities, and poetic discourses. Throughout its long history, the May Exhibitions have been an essential venue for presenting contemporary graphic production and a space that nurtures freedom — whether aesthetic, conceptual, or performative. For young artists, it offers a debut presentation, while also enabling insight into the ongoing development of established creators. This year’s exhibition, titled IMPRINTS • TRACES • SPACES – ECHO OF FREEDOM, naturally continues this creative thread.

With 125 participating artists born between 1935 and 2004, the exhibition confirms the vitality of the graphic art scene and testifies to the continued relevance of the exhibition. The exhibition includes works in various techniques — classical intaglio, relief printing, and digital prints on paper, foil, canvas, and fabric. Dominant among these are large formats, polyptychs, graphic installations and spatial installations by artists who are re-examining traditional techniques, transforming them through contemporary conceptual discourses and experimental approaches.

The works — abstract or figurative, fragmented, composed of rhythmic and repetitive forms, of marked drawing precision, visual articulation and expressive potency — communicate a wide range of meanings: intimate, symbolic, spatial, narrative, existential, and socially reflective. The rich presentation manifests characteristic tendencies that highlight current artistic preoccupations in contemporary visual practice, while the thoughtful selection of works contributes to the coherence of the exhibition.

The jury for the Great Seal Award 2025 convened on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, at 11:30 AM, and was composed of: Ljiljana Stojanović (printmaker), Zoran Todorović (visual artist), and Ljiljana Ćinkul (art historian). After carefully reviewing the works of 125 artists and narrowing down the shortlist of nominees, the jury unanimously decided to award the Great Seal at this year’s May Exhibition to Milica Bjelanović for her relief print “Monologue”.

Monologue, Milica Bjelanović, the Great Seal Award 2025.

Milica Bjelanović graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad in 1988, in the class of Professor Živko Ðak. The echo of that solid artistic education resonates in her work; while her creative experience has undergone metamorphoses across both conceptual and visual layers. It goes without saying that we live in a world without a shore, where survival is not easy—particularly in the arts and especially for the so-called weaker sex. Yet, Milica Bjelanović is an example of perseverance and talent, a person of keen perception and cultivated sensibility. Today, as a mature artistic personality, she sharpens the focus of her conceptual approach by reducing content to the elemental, close to the idea that less is more. In recent years, the artist has been exploring the potential of visual expression through the reduction of form and through asymmetrical activism. The awarded print “Monologue” is a prime example of that monochromatic sign that sublimates simplicity and emphasizes the dominance of creative essence.