Hrvatski- With toes my legs are buried
In the ground like roots.
Rebellious
From the soil I uproot myself.
I’ve always felt the strong need to express myself, to connect with people and the world around me. During childhood, playing with toys, I developed the ability of using legs. Later, first unconsciously, I tried to find the meaning in my physical situation. Eventually I discovered painting.
Color is the most important guide in my artistic life. I let the colors live on my paintings and lead me to the next level. For me color itself is the ideal I try to reach and communicate with the help of my left foot holding a paintbrush. That process is a constant conversation, starting from the first brushstroke through the reaction that colors induce, leading me to the realization of the painting. Working with children is also very important to me.
Children are very interested in my way of painting, they watch carefully when I prepare my palette and suddenly they stop noticing my wheelchair and start to enjoy art. They want to paint using their feet and they are curious about the result. It is very important for me to tear down prejudices in those little people and help them to develop tolerance and creativity in everything they want to do in the future.
My life and art are marked by my birth. Due to cerebral palsy, which affected my hands, my lifestyle is different. Despite cerebral palsy I use my legs skillfully so I am able to write and paint with my left foot. I have been painting, illustrating and writing poetry since my young age in order to express the spirit that moves me from inside. Since 2001 I have been a member of the international Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (AMFPA). I graduated painting from Free Academy of Art in the class of Mr. Donald Hall in Croatia. I have participated in three-year painting course led by Professor Carmelo Puzzolo. Being a participant of great number of art colonies and workshops, traveling extensively, I willingly cooperates with other artists. I have led art workshops for children in kindergartens and schools and for children with special needs, using my art as a bridge. I had 14 individual expositions and over thirty group ones.
In 2017 I participated in the art fairs in New York City called New York ArtExpo, in Ljubljana ArtEXpo and Parallax Art Fair in London, also I’ve participate in international collective exhibition in Athens, Greece under organization of CA4S-AthensArt and UNESCO of Piraeus & Islands.
In the Italian city of Ascoli-Piceno, I exhibited my two paintings at the International Exhibition of Contemporary Art from April 7 to May 15, 2022. I donated one of the paintings to a charity auction to raise money for the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Individual Exhibitions:
Collective Exhibitions: Sarajevo, Mostar, Vitez, Travnik, Zagreb, Split, Paris, Orléans i Dubrovnik, New York, Rovinj, Rastoke, Osijek, Velika Gorica, Ozalj, Koper, Jidrija, Ivanić Grad, Ljubljana, London, Atena, Hong Kong, Ascoli-Piceno
