I Hear You, 2024.

Exhibited in The Boiler House for Newcastle University Fine Art Degree Show.

My grandma and I never spoke to each other; we never shared a language. We build and preserve our queer communities through similar moments of tender silence.

I observed a specific physical, nonverbal intimacy within my queer community and my Serbian family - a tender silence that provides space for connection. This project highlights common acts of care within our communities, suggesting they are acts of spatial, social, and political reclamation and self-healing. 

Marina Abramović assumes violence in Balkan people. Unlike Abramović, who allows violence to be enacted upon her to prove innate violence within her audience, I wanted my film to prove institutional homophobia through presentations of queer healing in spaces that traditionally harbour queer violence.

Adrien Howells' performances are recorded as films of them sharing unequivocally queer moments with strangers and friends. They recorded natural reactions of intimacy or problematic discomfort when confronted with queerness. They directly inspired this project.  

I asked pairs of emotionally connected participants to re-enact a movement of care, support, intimacy, or comfort in spaces traditionally inaccessible and/or damaging to queer people. We chose spaces significant to them. I then performed the acts in my spaces in Serbia. I aimed to explore how to reclaim heritage when queer.

The film is designed so that every time a viewer walks in, they are allowed to interact with a different pairing of the footage. However, the initial and recreational performances are always paired together. 

This film is dedicated to my Baka Kristina Latinovic (1938 - 19th May 2024).