Noontide
Mirjana Vrbaški
In the exhibition "Noontide", Mirjana Vrbaški interlaces three previously unseen bodies of work: nature photographs, figures in motion and video installations. Unconventional renditions of female dancers are presented alongside archetypal forest landscapes. Video recordings of strangely familiar natural occurrences give the ordinary an enigmatic dimension.
Drawing from the rich mythology surrounding the topos noontime — as a juncture in time but also as a state of being characterized by both tenacity and abandon, stupor and elan, abundance and void — Vrbaški looks to the zenith of the day to speak of the ambiguous moment of transformation.
A single, iconic portrait of a woman, mesmerizing in its clarity and formal rigour, is juxtaposed against intricate forest scenes. Small, understated video installations isolate fleeting instances on the continuum of renewal. For the first time, Vrbaški also shows work from the series "The Practice", that captures dancers in moments of transition. United within the exhibition, the three bodies of work forge a poetic space of their own — a field of tension that forebodes change.
“Noontide” is Vrbaški’s first project to follow her monograph “Odd Time”, published in 2021 and selected as one of the best photography books of the year by The Guardian. Now, Vrbaški leaves the comfort of her previous work to expand her spectrum.
