"Silk" by Asja Mijović from Piva and Durmitor to Paris

Young artist from Montenegro Asja Mijović is presented at a group exhibition in Paris, entitled “Exposed”, which opened on April 7th and runs until the 12th, and is realized within the framework of the international platform for contemporary art “Chaos and Cosmos” based in Paris.

The exhibition “Exposed” was held in the historic space of “Atelier 11”, Cité Falguièr in Paris, one of the last remaining studios of the Montparnasse artistic community.

"The exhibition contemplates the body and the history of its representation, especially in relation to former residents of "Atelje 11", such as Modigliani i Sutina from the beginning of the 20th century, and contrasts them with contemporary depictions of the body," Mijović told "Vijesti" on this occasion.

The exhibition "Exposed", according to the organizers, returns to "Atelje 11" to reexamine what the appearance of the body means today, both in the form of a painting and as an object of artistic creation.

"The exhibition approaches the body as active, visible and present, shaped by material, context and perception, rather than predefined poses or hierarchies. The exposure is framed as an act of action, not a display. Bodies, gestures and interventions occupy space on their own terms, engaging with the past and memory," the official explanation states.

Mijović talks to "Vijesti" more about her work, which represents both her and Montenegro in Paris.

"The work 'Silk', which I presented at the exhibition, consists of horsehair collected from the bows of stringed instruments and a wool comb that I found as an antique at a flea market in Podgorica. In this work, I focus on examining the bodily gesture, approaching the female figure through the prism of her hair-combing rituals, but also wool," said Mijović.

She further reveals the special symbolism that her work carries, as well as the inspiration that started it all.

“For some time now, I have been experimenting with depictions of fairy mythology passed down to me by my mother and family, rooted in the beliefs of Piva and the Durmitor mountains. This work draws specifically on a personal story connected to a relative who I believed to be a fairy as a child, inspired by my mother’s stories. Her name, Silk, as well as her long blonde hair, became key elements of that association,” reveals the young artist.

In an earlier interview for “Vijesti”, she emphasized that the materials she works with are very important to her. She practices giving old and discarded materials a new meaning, appearance and life through a work of art, all while taking into account the ecological context. Although she was educated and trained outside of Montenegro, her inspiration, motifs and symbolism remain in her native country, which can be seen in the example of “Svile”.

“As part of the curatorial residency ‘Chaos and Cosmos’ with L’AiR Arts, the exhibition ‘Exposed’ does not present a fixed narrative or a single perspective. Instead, it emphasizes the multiplicity, agency, and active presence of the body in dialogue with history, material, and space, suggesting a reconfigured artistic state of bodily presence,” the organizers point out.

Thus, the Montenegrin artist exhibits her works together with some of today's prominent artists: Estela Alliaud, Margot Anquez Bariseau, Miriam Cahn, John De Andrea, Julia Declaire, Oriane Déchery, Sylvie Fanchon, Quentin Germain, Come, Sido Lansari, Marilena Pelosi, Ekaterina Shcherbakova, Toaletpaper Magazine, Lora Zyuzina.

“The artists in this exhibition come from a variety of practices - from figurative painting, to sculpture, to conceptual work, including Miriam Cahn, the Gelatin collective, and John De Andrea, whose works approach the subject of the body in different ways,” adds Mijović.

The exhibition organizers emphasize its diversity as a special quality and interesting feature.

“'Exposed' does not present a fixed narrative or a single perspective. Instead, it emphasizes the multiplicity, agency, and active presence of the body in dialogue with the past, material, and space, suggesting a reconfigured artistic state of bodily presence. Artists of different generations, geographies, and levels of institutional visibility contribute to this dialogue,” the statement reads.

The organizers remind that artists such as Amedeo Modigliani created within the gallery's walls, Tsuguharu Fujita i Haima Sutina who contributed to defining the modern canon of representation of the human body, in which the nude, most often a woman, appeared lying down, sitting, or accompanied by an object. These works, they argue, continued to shape figuration in visual art and established the body as both an image and an object of the gaze.

The platform “Chaos and Cosmos” functions as a flexible and evolving structure, without a fixed location. It organizes exhibitions, performances and discursive programs that explore the power, corporeality and symbolic dimensions of space. The platform was founded by independent curators and artists Julia Chistyakova (Julia Cistyakova) i Ekaterina Shcherbakova (Ekaterina Shcherbakova).

“The platform builds on more than 15 years of collaboration with artists, collectives and galleries across Europe and the world. Both founders are former students or alumni of the École du Magasin, and work between Paris and Zurich, developing research-driven, locally sensitive projects that interact with institutions and local contexts. They have worked in France, Switzerland, Lithuania, Canada, Russia, Belgium, Estonia, the United States and other countries, in collaboration with institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, Palais de Tokyo, the Venice Biennale, the Vilnius Centre for Contemporary Art, the Estonian Museum of Contemporary Art and the Armenian Centre for Contemporary Art NPAK, as well as numerous regional art centres and galleries,” the description states.

Asja Mijović in "Open Studio" about a new form of plastic flowers

During her residency at L'AiR Arts, which is being organized at “Atelje 11”, Asja Mijović will present her work “Dead Flowers Rising” to interested visitors as part of the “Open Studio” program. The event will be held on April 25th at “Atelje 11”.

The work “Dead Flowers Rising” is an installation in space, created from synthetic flowers that are coated with glass display cases and gelatin emulsions.

“Derived from discarded grave materials, these fragments pay homage to the tradition of still life,” the announcement states.

Her work explores the possibilities of reinventing and reinterpreting the classic form of still life, inspired by the legacy of this practice at Cite Falguiere, particularly the works of its former resident, Chaim Soutine, the website highlights.

"The plastic flowers we find in Asja Mijović's work are worn, faded and fragile, disintegrating towards their own abstraction. They are no longer a commemorative object, but an installation that considers the transience of plastic flowers towards their new form," the announcement states.

Two diplomas in America and an award for best sculpture in class

Young visual artist Asja Mijović was born in Podgorica in 2001. For the sake of her education, she exchanged her Montenegrin address for an American one, where she studied and graduated from two faculties simultaneously.

“From sculptures, installations and performances, her artistic practice depicts the decay of materials, memory and cracks, as generative conditions. Much of her inspiration comes from chance encounters or moments she encounters in transit,” writes Asja Mijović in her biography on lairarts.com.

She graduated in fine arts from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, as well as in philosophy and social sciences at the same university, in the United States.

In addition to knowledge, experience, and two parallel degrees, in her final year of studies she also received an award for the best sculpture in her class.

"In my third year, I got the opportunity to go on a student exchange and attend the Beaux Arts Academy in Paris. Only one student from the class gets that opportunity! There were other young artists from all over the world who were also on exchange, and we started hanging out, creating works together, and during those seven months I was focused only on art," she told "Vijesti" in a previous interview.

She attended a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in 2025. She is the recipient of a UNESCO scholarship for culture and creativity, within which she realized her solo exhibition “The Life of Dead Flowers”.