Saša Bezjak / Needle in a Haystack

Saša Bezjak / Needle in a haystack

The catalogue was published as a part of Saša Bezjak / Needle in a Haystack exhibition that was collateral environment of EKO 9 Trienniale, which took place in Judgement Tower of Minoriti Cultural Quarter between 6 July and 18 August 2024.

According to the curator Jure Kirbiš: »To search fort the needle in the haystack is to look for something hidden, something surrounded and enveloped by so much of everything else that it prevents us from unearthing what we are looking for. In her drawings of country life in the middle of Slovenske gorice, Saša Bezjak presents an almost entirely extinct way of life in the environment where she herself lives and works today. «

Saša Bezjak was insipired by Terezija Mostler and other older photographs of life in Trate. From this, she took motifs, drew them on various old fabrics and created a series of twenty-one original drawings. At a workshop on compassion for nature, held in September 2023, participants embroidered Saša Bezjak's drawings onto fabric. Saša Bezjak and her fellow embroiderers created a monumental work, a layered, critical monument to the community and the environment.

Saša Bezjak (b. 1971, Maribor) graduated from the Faculty of Pedagogy in Maribor and continued to study painting in Ljubljana, where she went to complete a masters degree in sculpture. Bezjak works in drawing, painting, sculpture, textiles (needlework), performance and other media. She often participates in art colonies and residencies in Slovenia and abroad. Her work has been  shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions, recently as part of major group shows For Your Pleasure. Feminist Positions in Visual Art in and from Slovenia at Moderna galerija (2023) and Punctum. Unusual Artistic Autobiographies (2024) at MGLC Švicarija, both in Ljubljana. Saša Bezjak's works are held in public collections, including the UGM – Maribor Art Gallery, the KGLU – Koroška Gallery of Fine Arts, Murska Sobota Gallery, the Pomurje Academic Centre, and the ITalian private collections Imago Mundi Luciano Benetton and Fondazione Pasquale Batista.

Catalogue editor: Mojca Štuhec
Texts: Jure Kirbiš, Saša Bezjak, Sonja Bezjak, Mojca Štuhec (bibliography)
Translation and copy editing: Ksenija Vidic and Jeff Bickert (proofreading)
Photographs: Damjan Švarc and Jakov Vogrinec
Design and layout: Sara Ozvaldič
Year: 2024
Published by: Maribor Art Gallery
Dimensions: 26 x 18 cm 
ISBN: 978-961-6489-39-3
Binding: soft cover
Pages: 66
Price: 10 €