Jelena Petric: NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN – exhibition at Galerija SC

Galerija SC, 18 – 30 June 2026 

The opening of Jelena Petric’s exhibition Nothing New Under the Sun will take place on Thursday, 18 June, starting at 20 h. The exhibition is open until 30 June, on weekdays from 12 to 20 h and on Saturdays from 10 to 13 h.

From the foreword by Sara Mikelić:

Jelena Petric’s recent artistic practice is clearly marked by an interest in recording the elusive and documenting the transient, and photography has proved a particularly suitable medium for this. It is far removed from its contemporary digital forms – the artist reaches for the oldest techniques of inscribing reality with light. In her artistic investigations of time and light she works first with cyanotype and then with the pinhole camera, based on the principle of the camera obscura. The resulting photographs are ultimately embodied through transfer onto three-dimensional supports, sometimes in the form of functional objects, which bring a meditative atmosphere into the exhibition space.

Clay as a material introduces an earthly, bodily element into the work, establishing a balance between the ethereality of the light captured by the photograph and the tangible materiality of the object, in which the imprints of making remain inscribed. The supports of these ceramic objects are rough, utilitarian elements whose usual function is to reinforce parts of structures or buildings. Stripped bare here and removed from their functional context, they point to transience and process, and stand in contrast to the fragile photo-objects, which are themselves often carriers of the fundamental element of life – water. Its presence carries certain (meta)physical values such as purification, and in this context it becomes a metaphorical bearer of a transcendental state. Reflection then forms a significant aspect of the work. It directs the gaze towards the sky, towards the source of light, while at the same time drawing attention to the viewer’s reflection in the mirrored surface, becoming an ethereal carrier of a momentary image of reality.

I saw that there is no other happiness for a person than joy in their own work, for that is their lot. And who will bring them to see what will come after them? (Ecclesiastes 3,22)

The phrase „nothing new under the sun“ is used in everyday speech as an indifferent comment on situations and events that come as no surprise. With this title the artist points to her interest in the phenomenology of the everyday – its monotony, its specificity, but also its intimacy. It is precisely in such seemingly insignificant moments that layers of personal experience are hidden, along with reflections on our surroundings and on our own actions within the world we are given. Recognising the limits of one’s own power of decision, and accepting that most of what happens remains beyond an individual’s control, can, in the Stoic understanding, amount to freedom. Such a stance, the artist believes, allows the focus to shift away from the profane, away from the empty chase after achievement and validation, towards a quiet, contemplative insight into being itself. (…)

BIOGRAPHY:

Jelena Petric is a multimedia artist from Zagreb. She graduated in 2019 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in the class of Prof. Ante Rašić. Together with a collaborative team she runs the independent multimedia project Kodirani prostori, which maps and archives former exhibition spaces in the city of Zagreb. As a member of the association Prirodno-umjetnički Kružok she has taken part in a number of projects, most notably Garaža Kamba. She has received several commendations from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb for her work, and was awarded at the 54th Zagreb Salon of Visual Arts Bez anestezije (Dom HDLU Zagreb, 2019). She was a participant in the first generation of the WHW Academy in 2018/’19. She is a member of the Croatian Association of Independent Artists.